Dry Ice
by FrozenFanGirls
Summary: 3 Girls get sucked into the world of Naruto with a past better left in the dark and a knowledge of the future. 600 hits and counting!
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Chapter 1**

--ding dong--

As she pulled the door, its hinges creaked, sunshine seeped in and temporarily blinded her. She blinked her blue-green eyes against the scorching afternoon sun; the figures before her had a heavenly glow about them from the sun at their backs.

"Hi Laura!" chimed the duo at the door. Laura stepped aside to let them in as she responded back with, "Bibi, Vivian, I'm so excited for today. Just think, our first Anime and Video Game convention!" A small squeal escaped her lips.

They entered her room and slung down their backpacks. Vivian threw open the white-washed slatted closet doors to reveal an assortment of clothing and a mountain of haphazardly stacked shoes. The clothes were soon strewn around the room. Vivian disappeared behind the bed and Bibi and Laura heard her shuffling through a drawer. Suddenly she popped up like a groundhog out of its hole, grasping a princess hat and Jasmine costume to her chest. Bibi sighed and shook her head. Her layered shoulder length brown hair fell into her eyes.

"Vivian," Bibi said, "We're going to an Anime and Video Game convention, not Disney World." The group burst out with laughter. Laura picked up a pile of shirts and found two white wife beaters. She then looked through a pile of shorts and found two black ones. "Hey, why don't we go as Lara Croft?" she asked.

It didn't matter to them that they were all naturally fair unlike the tanned and toned Lara Croft. It was also rather ironic that Laura was tanner than Bibi and Vivian even if Bibi was Spanish and Vivian was Brazilian and yet Laura's roots were in Germany.

Vivian agreed. "Oh yeah, a girl in a cute outfit kicking butt!" while Bibi stared at it with a sullen expression and finally said "I refuse to go in that….that…… lack of clothing." She then held up a black shirt and green cargo pants. "This is my outfit, a ninja from Naruto. I even brought my headband for the Konoha village."

"Suit yourself, but know that you can't tag along raiding tombs filled with ruins and random hot guys if you're dressed like that." said Vivian jokingly.

"I think I'll take my chances." Bibi said while wiping away tears from her chocolate eyes caused by laughing too hard.

"You guys, we should get ready since the con starts in an hour and we still have to drive there." After they had all changed in to their costumes, the girls frantically searched for shoes and belongings to fill their backpacks. Book shelves were raided along with cupboards and the faithful ipod was grabbed from Laura's desk. Bibi grabbed the laser keychain that projects 10 different images, including a spaceship, just for kicks. While Vivian grabbed her make-up bag, just in case they might need lip-gloss or something later on.

Forty minutes later found them in Laura's eternal blue Acura RSX with the sunroof open and Shania Twain blaring on the CD player. Their harmony was more along the lines of a cacophony as they repeated the words

"Oh Oh Oh go totally crazy forget I'm a lady

Men shirt short skirts oh oh oh oh

Really go wild yeah doing it in style

Oh Oh Oh Get in the action feel the attraction

Color my hair do what I dare Oh Oh Oh

I wanna be free yeah feel the way I feel

MAN I feel like a woman"

They laughed their way through the final verse as they were pulled up to the convention center where it was being held. They grabbed their backpacks from the trunk and schlepped them up to the entrance where there was a baggage check which seemed completely pointless, considering once inside you could buy an assortment of weapons from a myriad of vendors.

Vivian and Laura got some interesting looks from the male security guard in his twenties, though they egged him on by batting their eyelashes and smiling a feigned innocent look with their light eyes shining mischievously. So, they were a tad bit outgoing at times, okay, they were extremely outgoing all the time, but they got a good time out of it. Bibi saw this and laughed nervously as she pushed them on while saying, "Moving on now….." She waited till they were out of earshot of the guard and said in a humorous tone, "You guys are nuts."

"No Bibi, we are talented." Laura commented back.

As they turned around to face the glory of this anime heaven, they stood frozen with their eyes wide as they took in the sight before them, anime and video games covered the entire floor. Vivian was the first to recover from the initial shock "ohhhhh, shiny pointy objects." She dragged Bibi and Laura still with their mouths agape over to the weaponry display.

Laura commented sarcastically "We're here five minutes and already you are purchasing weapons to kill us with. Just remember that you need me to drive you home." She turned to Bibi and saw her walking off into the sea of people.

"Uh oh, her radar has found a stand with wings" said Vivian as she turns to admire the bow and arrows from the company that created the Lord of the Rings video game. She just had to have the weapon of Legolas' choice. "I take it that if you can't have his shirt, you'd rather have his bow and arrows?" teased Laura.

Vivian's eyes glazed over. "Yes, and maybe he will come and teach me to fire them. He could wrap his arms around me in attempt to show me the correct form, and"

"Just keep dreaming of the blond elf boy Vivian, maybe one day your diversion will pop out of the movie and come to your rescue. I wonder how long it takes him to primp in the mornings and if he likes wearing those green tights." Laura bantered.

"You just wish that Aragorn looked as good as Legolas all the time instead of being a grunge ball throughout most of the movies. After all, the ranger was only a mere human, unlike Legolas, the Elfin Prince of Mirkwood." Vivian threw back with a mock glare.

"Whatever" Said Laura as she laughed and turned to pay the Lord of the Rings representative for Anduril, the sword that was re-forged for Aragorn.

A few minutes later, Bibi emerged from the throng of people holding a boomerang with wings painted on it from some small unheard of videogame. "How coincidental is that we all happen to have the perfect compartments on our sling backpacks to fit our weapons. I mean I have a scabbard on the side of mine, you have a quiver and a clip for your bow, and Bibi, and well, she just has a water bottle holder and a cell phone holder." commented Laura.

She and Vivian erupted in fits of laughter as Bibi gave them a death glare and then smirked as she put the boomerang half way in the cell phone holder. "Ha!" Bibi stated as her eyes were filled with mirth. "Mine is compact and light unlike yours." She sticks her tongue out at them. Laura responded back by also sticking her tongue out and making a face.

"Come now children," Vivian said in her best parental voice.

"But I don't want to go mommy," Laura said as she stuck her bottom lip out in a feigned pout.

"Send her to time out, make her ashamed and stand in a corner with a dunce hat or something." Bibi put emphasis on her comment with a satisfied smirk of victory.

"I give up." A sweat drop appeared as Vivian rolled her eyes at the antics of these two teenagers.

They progressed on to the Tomb Raider area, their weapons properly stowed in their amazing contraptions of backpacks, and definitely not looking like the newbies they were to the anime con world. "Oh my gosh, we have to go to the Halo booth" gushed Laura.

"Oh God, I had hoped she would have conveniently forgotten about that." whispered Bibi.

"We're not that lucky." stated Vivian.

"Darn, I left my four leaf clover and lucky horse shoe at home. I guess I'll have to bring it next time." replied Bibi.

They glanced over from their spot in the corner to where Laura was standing in a circle of guys talking animatedly with her hands as they discussed the new weaponry options for Halo 2. Finally when they couldn't take it any more, Bibi strode purposely up to her and caught hold of her backpack as she tried to drag her away. "Nooooo, five more minutes." pleaded Laura. "We still haven't talked about the differences in vehicles in the two Halo games."

Bibi said sarcastically, "Your fan club can wait, we're moving onto Naruto."

As they approached the Naruto section, there was this enormous fire-engine red button with bold letters beneath it, saying "Do NOT press." Oblivious to the sign, a group of menacing incongruous teenaged guys in the crowd walked up and pressed it. A confused expression crossed their faces as they pressed it again and closed their eyes at the same time. They opened their eyes again and looked baffled and angry.

As we watched their strange behavior, Bibi joked, saying, "See, they thought that if they pressed the red button and wished hard enough, they would end up in the world of Naruto."

Vivian started laughing, and then Laura said, "Or maybe, they had a count down and then pressed the red button for ignition and lift-off."

"Or, it would count down till self-destruction," said Vivian between bouts of laughter.

They all walked up to the stand selling merchandise and Vivian and Laura purchased head protectors. Now the three girls had matching headbands from the village of the leaf ninjas all tied on their hair. The navy blue of the band and silver of the metal with the leaf village symbol on it nicely contrasted with Bibi and Vivian's brown hair along with Laura's dirty blond hair and complimented their already tough looks. They appeared to be a force not to be reckoned with.

They struck a Charlie's angels pose and had a bystander take a picture of them with Laura's 8 mega-pixel Nikon digital camera. They glanced over to the red button area and noticed the gang of guys dispersing. The security guard bellowed loudly that the boys had their turn and had to move on. The girls took advantage of the lack of line for the button pressing and walked up to it.

They stared at it for a moment and Vivian commented "Isn't it funny how teenagers and adults alike line up to press this button with the knowledge that it does absolutely nothing? Yet we are like little kids because it just looks so tempting and pressable and the fact that the sign is in big bold letters saying not to makes it all the more fun."

Laura said "We should all press it at the same time and have joint responsibility in destroying the earth. Okay, 5…4…3…2…1…" An explosion was heard along with a woman's frightened scream as the power flickered and went out. When the lights returned and a voice could be heard, assuring everyone that it was just a flipped circuit breaker. Not a soul noticed the absence of three teenage girls from the once again bustling convention center.


	2. Three Little Ninjas

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

**_Italics denotes mental thoughts_**

**Authors' note: We are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.**

**Chapter 2**

**Bibi's viewpoint**

She drifted out of dreamland as she shifted in her bed. _Why does morning come so damn early? _ She twisted again managing to get her cold exposed toes nicely nestled again in the sheets. _Why is my cat at my side? He normally sleeps on my feet keeping them warm. Oh well._ She starts to pet the creature next to her. _Wow, Pal (her cat) has soft hair, wait a second, this feels like human hair…_ She opens her eyes a slit until they adjust fully to the morning light. What she sees beside her is anything but her cat.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh" she screamed as she jumped from the bed teetering dangerously as her foot was caught in the sheet.

Naruto was jolted awake by her scream. _Oh, I like these dreams, these are the dream where random girls appear and turn into Sakura…..yep, any second now and she will have pink hair and be in that little red kimono of hers._

"Who the heck are you?!?!?!" she screamed.

When he didn't respond, she ran her shaking hand through her hair frantically wracking her brain as to why she was in this place, where it was for that matter, and who this blond haired boy in the bed was.

_Oh my god, was I drunk last night? I've never been drunk before._ Her mind came to a screeching halt. _Did anything happen last night_? A distressed look was engraved on her face. _Where are Laura and Vivian when I need them?_ She looked down at herself and breathed a sigh of relief noticing that she still had on her clothes. W_ell, at least I know that I slept fully clothed. That rules out the last question. _

She was jarred out of her mental discussion by Naruto mumbling, "Since this isn't a normal dream with Sakura, it must have been some bad ramen from last night coming back to haunt me."

"Answer my question, who the heck are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded.

It finally hit him like a semi-truck into a brick wall at 90 miles an hour, he wasn't dreaming.

They then commenced in a screaming match that ended when they were both blue in the face from lack of oxygen. He sat up and came closer to her in attempt to walk around her, but she mistook his actions……

**Vivian's Viewpoint**

Beep, beep, beep droned the incessant alarm clock.

Vivian groaned and stuck her head under her pillow.

_I don't wanna get up! I wanna sleep… why is that such a hard concept for alarm clocks to understand?_ she thought.

Beep, beep, beep the alarm persisted...

_I hate these things. Why can't they have a nicer tone than that harsh beeping; something maybe that could lull me back to sleep or at least be easier to ignore._

She was now starting to have a full-blown mental conversation. Her thoughts finally became logical as she mentally debated alarm clocks. H_mmm…I guess alarm clocks were invented so people like me would actually get up and not be soothed back to sleep. Otherwise, there would be no point in them. No matter how logical they seem, I still loath them…well at least for now._

She tried to coax her lethargic body into moving, but failed as the alarm clock still continued its job of waking its owner.

_I give up, the intimate object won. It can claim its victory and live to fight another day. Hell, it can have its own flag waving upon a hill for all I care._

She suppressed the giggle that threatened to come out from her last thought. W_ow, if someone heard the conversations I hold in my head, they would give me a white jacket with oh so shiny belt buckles on the back and give me a nice white padded room all to myself and the voices on my head. But then again, they would also have Bibi and Laura locked up to considering they can go out of this world with their conversations at times. At least I wouldn't be locked up alone. _She smirked at the mental image of her and her two friends locked up in a mental ward.

The beeping once again broke through her mental conversations to bring her back to reality.

_Ah darn that thing!_

She stretched her stiff arm and wiggled her fingers. She then proceeded to hit the snooze button on the alarm.

_Why the heck isn't it stopping? Cheap piece of plastic. Maybe I'm hitting the wrong button._

She poked around the same vicinity in an attempt to stop the alarm that was wearing at her nerves.

Suddenly, the alarm clock started to shift. _What? What kind of a freak alarm clock moves, and for that matter, it doesn't seem like plastic now that I think of it_.

"What's going on?" mumbled the groggy voice of the alarm clock.

_Wait a second, since when do alarm clocks make coherent statements?!?!?! _

She opened her eyes and was completely unprepared for the sight that was before her. Her alarm clock had taken human form.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I have a cursed alarm clock from Taiwan."

He opened his eyes and turned over at the sound of a girl's voice. _Wait a second,_ he thought. _What the heck is a girl doing in my apartment?!?!?!_

He sat up so quickly she never even saw his head coming towards hers. Their heads met in a collision and it seemed to be a tie as both of them jumped apart after taking a severe beating to their heads.

"You aren't my alarm clock!" she screamed.

He looked at her with wide eyes trying to figure out who she was and how she could have gotten into his apartment and his bed for that matter. He could feel his cool and nonchalant mask slipping. Worry and mass confusion reigned in his brain.

_Stay_ _calm, there has to be a logical explanation behind this, stay calm, breath_. He commanded himself to do. _Why is this happening, I mean I can imagine Naruto getting so drunk that he has no clue what's going on and why a girl is in his bed, but this can NEVER happen to me! _He paused, his mental thought and then renewed it with increased confusion and curiosity_. Is this what freaking out feels like? It's a new experience for me._

_Wow,_ Vivian mused, _this poor guy looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a hummer having a mental breakdown. Obviously, the deer was having the breakdown, not the hummer._

Suddenly he goes up to her and looks her up and down while saying, "Well, at least you're a cute illusion." He started to walk away from her, hoping she would disappear by the time he returned from training, but…..

**Laura's Viewpoint**

_I'm cold. Whys does the monster under my bed always steal my blanket? Though I actually don't know who always takes my blankets, they always seem to end up on the floor next to my bed in the morning. Hmmm… I guess it could also be the sandman…oh well, I guess I shall never know. Maybe, I could set up a night vision surveillance camera and._ A shiver started at her exposed leg and ran up her spine.

_I'm amazed that I have such an over active imagination when I'm only half awake, but I'm still cold and my imagination doesn't help solve anything. I guess that's what I get for always twisting and turning. That is the real blanket culprit. I must turn so much that it gets thrown off my bed. You would think that if I do this enough I would eventually learn that if I want to stay warm I must not kick the blanket off the bed, but I'm even blonder in my sleep apparently. I guess I'll just have to turn on my heat seeking radar and locate the warmth of my blanket._

She turned on her side and nuzzled into her blanket as she fell asleep once again.

The sun's rays filtered through the plastic blinds and cast lines of sun on her face as her blue-green eyes fluttered slightly; signifying that she was awakening. She felt her blanket tighten around her waist as she tried to shift, so she ceased her attempt.

_Mmmmmh, I haven't had such a comfortable or peaceful sleep in a long time. I wish I could just suspend time and lay here forever. I hear and feel a foreign rhythmic breathing that is almost lulling me back to sleep. Wait a second….did I just say foreign breathing? Meaning that it isn't mine?!?!_

Her eyes shot open and went into temporary shock. Not a coherent thought crossed her mind as she drank in the scene before her. There was a sleeping guy with silver hair that shined form the sunlight on it. He was facing her with his arm around her waist, holding her prisoner in his strong unyielding grip.

_Maybe I can shift some and get his arm to move so I can escape without waking him. Then I can find out where I am and how to get home._

She wiggled and tried to shimmy out of his death grip when it suddenly loosened around her and she noticed that his breathing wasn't as smooth as when he was asleep.

_Uh oh,_ Laura though.

She looked up at his handsome face with strong chiseled features that reminded her of a Calvin Klein model, except he had a scar over his left eye. As if on cue, his eyes opened and she was staring at one brown (a/n is it brown?) and one red eye.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed and her pulse quickened.

_He looks possessed or something with that one red eye. I feel like he can see right through to my soul with it._

He started to smile and raise his arm from her body as she tried to push herself away.

_I really need to stop reading Come Come Paradise before I go to bed, _he mused. _It's not good when I wake up imagining a girl in my bed._

She was finally free of his grip but pushed herself away from him just a little too fast, and gravity took effect.

She landed on the floor with a THUNK.

That was when he realized that she wasn't just a sweet dream of his.

_Damn it_, he thought. _Why is it that I wake up with a cute girl in my bed and I can't remember a single event that happened last night?_

She stumbled to her feet with one hand rubbing her aching behind from her spill off the bed while her mouth was slightly agape in disbelief over the entire situation.

_Oh God_. She thought as she panicked. _ I need to get out of here._

He just sat there on the bed bathed in sunshine, watching her.

Her hair fanned out in the air as she spun on one foot and headed for the nearest door in the sparsely decorated apartment. She threw it open, stalked inside, and slammed it closed behind her.

_Where am I? It's as dark as a black hole._ She tried to mentally construct a plan to get her out of the situation she was currently in.

He chuckled. _I wonder how long it will take her to figure out she's in my closet?_

She heard his musical laughter once again.

She felt around till she found something soft and continued to feel around until she recognized a hanger and some shirts. _God I'm an idiot. I had to pick the door that led to a walk in closet. I am a cursed blond idiot. Oh no, I hear his footsteps coming. I need to think of something quick. I'll only have one chance at this. _

She looked so fragile and afraid when she was on the floor before. He was afraid he was going to have to coax her out of the closet.

He opened up the door and reached in for her. His hand was blocked. In a flash, her fist connected with his left eye. That was going to leave a mark. The ex-ANBU was caught off guard but wouldn't let something like that happen to him twice. She aimed a high kick for his head which is quite a feat considering he is a little over six feet tall, but she was easily five feet eleven inches. His hand darted out and easily caught her ankle.

_What's that shining on her head_? He wondered. _Huh? That is a forehead protector from Konoha!_

"That was a good hit you made, and I'm impressed with your flexibility for that high kick, but that was too obvious of a move. It gives your opponent ample time to intercept it and hit you back." He lectured.

She stared at him with wide eyes, not even realizing that he still held her foot in mid-air and yet she didn't even waver in her balance.

"But…how….who…?" she stumbled on her words.

_Why is it I can't spit out anything? Who the heck is this guy? He looks only a year or so older than me, but man, does he have strength. That was amazing how he caught my leg without even so much as a flinch._

"Now, since you tried to attack me, I take it that you don't remember much of last night either. For starters, you are clearly a ninja with some training from those basic maneuvers you tried on me and the Konoha forehead protector which means that you are from here, though I've never seen you around. So, why don't we introduce ourselves?"

"How can you be so calm about this entire situation?" Laura asked.

"Well, frankly, I don't want to scare you off or hurt you in attempt to defend myself from your attacks again, though I promise you that you wouldn't be able to do me any more harm." He paused. "You still haven't told me your name."

"Laura, my name is Laura."

"Are you sure about that, because you seem kind of iffy on that statement?"

"Yes I'm sure you ass." She said, clearly insulted.

"Whoa, there is no need for name calling."

"Well, if you would have told me your name in the first place I wouldn't have had to say the first thing that came to mind." She replied.

"Hmmm. Witty. I like that. And I must say that you are one of the first to stand up to me in that way." He was clearly amused by the conversation and her frustration.

"You are an egotistical bastard, and to top it all off, you haven't told me your name yet."

"Ah, you really won't let me beat this around the bush will you? My name is Kakashi, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

She just stood there, blankly staring at him. _What the heck kind of a name is Kakashi? Oh well, he must have had odd parents._

"Now, back to your stance..." That was the first time she noticed that he was still holding her leg in midair.

"In order to catch your enemy off guard, move you leg this way." He moved her leg slightly lower and to the left. "Then, you can aim your kick so it follows your enemy's blind spot and just out of their vision so it is unexpected. To do this, you need to tilt your hips at a different angle. Yours are too head on." He put his hands on her hips and titled her stance. He looked into her eyes and they both froze, staring at each other. She lowered her leg that was beginning to feel numb from lack of circulation. He still had his hands on her hips as he took a step forward and closed the distance between then and……………………….


	3. Ramen Anyone?

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

Authors' Note: We're really sorry for the short chapter and lack of update, but we're trying. Blame everything on finals and the lack of inspiration to sit down on a folding chair at the computer and type up our ideas. Hopefully now that finals are over with and we have winter break, the plot bunnies will come back and inspire us to write longer chapters. Okay, on with the story.

_Italics denotes mental thought_

**Chapter 3**

The sun was smiling on the village of Konoha. The birds were singing their merry little tunes as they flew from tree to tree. Kids ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, or something along those lines.

A resounding smack was heard along with a chorused screech of "you pervert!" was heard throughout the village of Konoha. Three boys stood in shock, they were the victims of the slap that connected with their cheeks and then were verbally abused when they were declared a pervert for the entire village to hear.

Vivian ran to her backpack. _I have to get my phone so I can radio Bibi and Laura. I have to get out of this guy's house._

She found her Bluetooth earpiece and put in on. Sasuke turned to where she had run off to, across his room.

"Bibi, Laura, you guys there?" Vivian said while pacing the room.

"And as if things couldn't get worse, now my illusion is schizophrenic." Sasuke gloomily stated for no one in particular.

In the apartments of Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke, a voice was heard booming "I am NOT schizophrenic.

Bibi and Laura finally broke their death glares at the men before them and rushed to their backpacks. They swiftly put on their matching Bluetooth earpieces and held a three way conversation. Sasuke and Naruto decided to leave before their minds endured any more mass confusion. Kakashi just smiled at Laura as he put on his mask while she went into drama queen mode while talking on the phone. He found the sight before him quite humorous. He then disappeared in a poof, knowing he was habitually, but ever so appropriate in the situation, late.

At the bridge, the usual meeting place for Team 7, stood a pink haired teenager, clearly annoyed by the scowl on her face and the impatient tapping of her regularly issued ninja sandals against the wood of the bridge. A blond haired boy was running in a jumpsuit. Approaching from the other direction was another teenage boy with hair so black it shone blue in the sun. His hands were in his pockets as he casually strolled, his gaze distant as his mind wandered back to this morning's events.

_I must be training too hard, though that slap felt real enough. At least it didn't leave a nasty red mark. Well, here comes Naruto, looks like I'm not the only one running late._

As the three teens finally met on the bridge, Sakura smiled at Sasuke, clearly enthralled by his presence. She then turned to Naruto and unleashed her inner Sakura.

"Naruto, you inconsiderate, immature dobe! If you can't even get to a meeting on time, how the heck do you expect to become Hokage?" she screamed at him.

Naruto stood there terrified and insulted. He stared at the girl with wide eyes, but recovered quickly and changed the subject. Today he just couldn't stand the thought of being pounded on the head by Sakura.

"Sasuke, you seem more distant than usual today. Did something happen to you this morning?" inquired Naruto.

"Um, not really." replied Sasuke, not wanting to expose his interesting earlier escapades. "What about you Naruto?"

"Ummmm, ahhhh….nothing, nothing at all out of the ordinary." Naruto replied nervously.

Sasuke knew Naruto was hiding something, but he wasn't sure what, and truthfully didn't care to know.

-Poof- Kakashi appeared.

"Hi, there was this strange ninja girl in my bed this morning and…"

"You perverted LIAR!" screamed Sakura.

"You too sensei?" said Naruto.

It took Sakura a minute to recover from that unexpected comment from Naruto, but none the less, she had to come up with something to say.

"You guys have no morals. The next thing will be Sasuke saying that it happened to him too!" cried Sakura.

They all turned to face the quite boy. He blushed 20 shades of red as he guiltily said, "I kind of did too."

Sakura's jaw dropped as Inner Sakura was going off the walls.

_I was supposed to get his first kiss, but Naruto screwed that up. Then, I just knew that I had to be the first to break through the wall around his heart and spend a night at his house, but now some 'loose' girl who probably only has a first name and an IQ of a potted plant barely capable of photosynthesis, ruined my one and only chance!_

Her hands were balled in fists, teeth clenched, and eyes swirled with rage. Her morning wasn't going well at all.

Kakashi, fearing Sakura was going to blow her top like Mt. St. Helens, said "Well, why don't we go train in the forest."

A spectrum of emotions boiled in all the teens, from anger to confusion to embarrassment to curiosity as the trudged over the grassy field.

Across Town at the Ramen Shop

"We're lucky that this is a small village and we found each other alright." said Vivian.

"I'm glad we found something to eat, because I am starving!"

"Sure Bibi, think of your stomach before our safety. I recall correctly, you were the one freaking out the most over the entire situation this morning." Laura quipped.

The girls laughed knowing that Bibi was just using food as an excuse to hide how much she panicked and hoped that she would be able to find her friends. As they waited for their food, Bibi told them about her nerve wracking morning. "Okay, so I freaked out a little, or maybe more. Fine, I'll admit that I wouldn't be surprised if I suddenly had gray hair and developed a hernia, but at least we're all here now."

The waiter served them all water and chose to ignore their rather odd conversation. He didn't care what the patrons talked about as long at they ordered, though two were dressed rather scantly and the other in a man's ninja uniform. He noticed that they were receiving some rather odd and confused looks by people passing by. _Hmph, rebellious and eccentric teenagers, nothing more. _

Vivian and Laura also swapped their stories between bites of ramen that they shoveled into their mouths.

Back in the forest

Kakashi smirked as he looked at his team. They were all covered in dirt and red marks that were sure to leave some interesting colored bruises the next day, and the guys were panting from exhaustion as Sakura caught her breath and smiled a triumphant but malicious smile. _At least Sakura used all her anger in her training. She gave Naruto and Sasuke a run for their money. _

"Kakashi-sensei, we've been training forever, can't we go get some ramen? Pleassssssssse?" whined Naruto.

_Oh well, why not. As if this day hasn't been weird enough, I really don't feel like listening to Naruto's constant nagging for Ramen. _"Sure Naruto." replied Kakashi.

The group of ninjas started on their way towards the ramen shop. Sasuke had a distant nonchalant appearance; Naruto was talking to everyone about nothing important, though none of them were listening. Sakura was plotting the doom and demise of the girl that dared to mess with Sasuke, and Kakashi predictably had his nose in the latest addition of Come Come Paradise. Grated that he wasn't actually reading it, his students would never assume this, though he wouldn't truly care if they saw him walking with or without his book, though to most it was more of an obsession of perversion or even possibly a security blanket.

He was discretely watching his students that weren't much younger than him, and realized that though it seemed they had nothing in common, their lack of age gap was enough of a connection when one thinks of it. They were all going through the same stage in life; he just happened to be an uber genius in his skill and had far more experience than they even knew of.

He always wondered if he missed out on the growing up part of being a kid since he faced the harsh reality of killing and death at such a young age. Who knew how this could possibly maim him emotionally and physiologically, but his sanity is another issue for another time.

As team 7 was walking towards the ramen shop, the manager caught sight of Naruto, his best customer. "Oh, I hope he stops by today; it's been a rather slow morning."

The girls hearing him say this, turned around to see who this wondrous customer was.

"Vivian," said Bibi, "don't they all look familiar?" They turned to each other, eyes wide in realization and disbelief. They both shouted "NARUTO!"

The teens that were still walking up heard his name. "See" Naruto said, "I have a fan club too Sasuke!" They were now a mere few feet from where the girls were eating and they all turned to where Naruto's supposed "fan club" was at.

"Hmph" Sasuke deadpanned.

"Oh, no, not you again." said a clearly disappointed Naruto.

Sakura's left eye twitched_. So, these are the girls that the guys woke up with. They're not even pretty. Hell, I would make a better whore. Wait a second, did I just consider myself a better whore?!? What is this world coming to? I have been around Naruto way too much. I'm going insane._ "Bitches" Sakura mumbled loud enough for Sasuke hear it and give her and odd look.

She then resorted to shooting them daggers with her eyes while trying not to jump on the first that spoke, whether that was the girl that woke up with Sasuke or not.

"You guys are from Naruto! Laura exclaimed followed by an ear shattering squeal.

As team seven looked at her as if she had grown a second head, Bibi said "Laura you are slow."

"No, she's blond" responded Vivian.

"Well, actually, she has more of shiny dishwater colored hair."

"No, I distinctly see pieces of blond towards the front."

The ninjas standing in front of them were totally disregarded and forgotten in an instant as they stood watching the debate unfold before them.

"Well, I know one thing for sure; she's blond on the inside."

Vivian was about to respond when Laura jumped into the conversation.

"Stop talking about me as if I'm not here, and I do not have dishwater hair!"

The guilty pair stared at her with remorseful eyes.

"But how do you know me?" interjected Naruto.

Kakashi felt the air becoming thicker as his eyes tried to find the source of his uneasiness. He could feel someone watching them. Something was clearly going on.

Realizing that the topic shouldn't be discussed in public with an eavesdropper nearby, he quickly put a hand over Naruto's mouth and said, "I think we best discuss that matter in the Hokage's office."


	4. Hokage

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Authors' note: We are soooo sorry this didn't come out sooner. Begs on knees for forgiveness Since finals were over, we got a chapter written, but then our new beta (poptate12 whom we love, adore, and have handcuffed to the computer currently ) had to revise everything and in the middle of all this, my computer chose to crash to the point where I had to reload the operating system. We will get the next chapter up by Wednesday and hopefully another by Friday (though the Friday deadline is probably pushing it slightly).**

**Just a reminder from a previous Author's Note which we will also post on every chapter from now on, we are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.**

**Chapter 4**

Kakashi uncovered Naruto's mouth and gave him a stern look that implied complete and utter silence. He threw them a sharp glance, conveying to all of them that they were to follow silently. Both Sakura and Sasuke knew that when their sensei was this stern, he meant business. They also knew that it was imperative that they follow his orders, especially, when he didn't take out his book to read on their walk to the Hokage's office.

As they walked up the dirt and gravel road, they passed a myriad of colorful shops and people that dotted the roadway. A woman offered them ripe strawberries that Laura tried to accept, but was unable to do so. Vivian and Bibi quickly pulled her away. Naruto gave them a questioning glance, prompting them to explain.

"You see Naruto; people get uncontrollably hyper off things sometimes. Most people do this when given sugar." Bibi said matter-of-factly, raising her index finger in the air to further emphasize her point, while Naruto nodded his head in understanding and as a silent urge for her to continue her explanation.

"Laura here is anything but normal. In fact, she is probably the closest thing to an alien that you could find on this planet."

Laura glared at her. "Gee, thanks," she muttered, under her breath.

"Just kidding about the alien thing, though you have to admit, Laura, that you are weird," said Bibi, while Laura shook her head to show she was not offended. "Back to the explanation though, Laura gets excessively and insanely hyper off of strawberries." Here she took a long, deep breath before continuing.

"She talks a-mile-a minute, bounces off walls like one of those fifty-cent super bouncy balls, and well, yeah, goes into hyper-drive so to speak." finished Bibi quickly again pausing to inject her lungs with badly needed oxygen.

"Ahh" said Naruto as if understanding, although he was just as confused as ever.

"Strawberries, ehh? I'll have to keep that in mind." Kakashi quipped while crinkling his only visible eye in amusement.

Vivian's eyes held a hazy, clouded expression clearly showing that her mind was somewhere else. She frowned, and then laughed, probably remembering the last time she and Bibi allowed Laura to have a chocolate covered strawberry, momentarily forgetting said fruit's effects on her.

"Are you thinking of the last time we let her have strawberries?" Bibi glanced toward Vivian.

"Yeah" she replied still in her daze. "It was that crisp autumn morning, though, it was really more muggy than crisp, and the trees were colored, or at least a different color of green considering South Florida doesn't have much in the way of seasons and the only trees in sight were royal palms."

She continued oblivious to the native's confusing upon hearing "South Florida".

"The seasons could be described as hot and hotter, so there we were, perspiring in shorts and t-shirts, while we watched people trying to make the most of the weather by drinking coffee and hot chocolate, given out as samples in spite of the heat. Masses of people had turned out for the annual art fair. They were herded onto sidewalks and crossways between the tents of art and jewelry like cattle." Bibi added.

"I was entranced by the multifaceted jewels that were intricately woven in a necklace while you were looking at the bronze three dimensional sculpture of a dog," the still bemused Vivian said reminiscing

Here Naruto whispered to Sakura, "Ano…, these foreign girls talk a little weird, ne, Sakura-chan?" Sakura, who was still fuming, just turned up her nose, pretending to ignore the words to strangers, but secretly taking in their unusual tale.

"Laura walked up to me and I noticed she was holding something in her hand, but that didn't strike me as odd. She opened her hand to reveal three delicious looking chocolate covered strawberries. She explained that they were giving them out as samples and we each got one. It was only after we finished eating them and Laura was taking her last bite that we realized our horrible mistake." Said Bibi, while shaking her head.

Up until now, Kakashi had been silent, quietly pondering the different ways these girls could have landed here, but even he had to question the strangers' sanity at the next words.

"Laura started to talk about the tortures of her math class, HTML code (Nani?) which lost us, even if she hadn't been talking incredibly fast, about the latest songs she downloaded onto her Ipod, the new dress she had bought for the upcoming dance, and other subjects we couldn't catch; all within a minute. I remember telling Bibi the reason behind all of it. Laura was on a high-speed DSL connection, while we were on dial-up. She then rushed us by all different booths before we could look inside them. The rest was downhill from there and if I remember correctly, Bibi even tried to restrain Laura, which made people stare at them both. That was a day I shall never forget." Vivian told them.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura all stared at the girls as if they were insane. (Though, in Sakura's case, she looked at them with slight anger too.) Vivian noticed neither the questioning looks, nor the single look of anger, because she was still staring in to the distance and remembering. Bibi and Laura on the other hand, noticed the strange looks and quickly pulled themselves back down to earth.

By the time Vivian was done with her stroll down memory lane, they had arrived at the building that housed the Hokage's office, framed from behind by the monument of the village's previous leaders. Although Bibi, Laura, and Vivian knew it existed, it was still quite huge, and therefore astonishing.

They opened the double doors and walked down the varnished wooden hallway lined with sliding paper doors. They could see the shadows of the occupants in different rooms going about their daily jobs. They came to an elaborately painted door and Kakashi came to a halt as he knocked on the frame. A muffled voice from inside the room said, "Come in."

Kakashi spun on his toes as he told them all to sit in the chairs on the right of the door outside Hokage-sama's office.

"It'll only take a minute." He threw over his shoulder as he walked into the office and slid the door closed behind him.

The group of teens made their way quietly over to the chairs.

They took their seats and stared at the patters in the grains of wood, not knowing why it was so urgent that Kakashi-sensei see Hokage-sama, regarding the girls that were still mostly a mystery to team 7, alone. Who knew, with as many twists as the day had brought, they might be back to square one and accomplish nothing by the end if the day.

"Why do I always pick the broken chairs? This one sags." Sakura said to no one in particular.

"Vivian, that reminds me of the conversation we had on the phone a while ago." Laura stated, to break the uneasy silence that had followed Sakura's comment.

"That's right, about the washer and dryers," replied Vivian.

"How do you relate sagging chairs to laundry?" asked a confused Bibi.

Sakura bit her lip and groaned silently. She was going to have to sit through another one of those darn reminiscing moments of theirs. _Oh well,_ she though, _at least, now I can continue daydreaming about Sasuke-kun without any interruption from Naruto. _Her face developed the dreamy, hazy look she got when she thought of Sasuke.

"You see," Vivian, said, "when sitting on a washing machine, you are sitting on the lid and since it isn't re-enforced, it sags. Then you have to get up and hit it until it pops back into normal shape, and it hurts because you have to hit it pretty hard. Whereas, the dryer has the lid in the front and so you sit on the top, which is sturdier, and you don't have the problem of sagging. I've learned from experience." Vivian explained while gesturing with her hands.

"Oh I see. You do realize that you have the oddest experiences, ones that would never go into a college admissions essay or resume." Bibi said while smiling.

"You never know, I might just want a job in testing the strength of washing machine lids." joked a grinning Vivian.

"Oh yeah, like that'll happen."

"It's right up there with becoming a ninja." Laura said, pointing out the irony of the situation.

They all turned silent and lowered their gazes their minds snapping back to the situation at hand. It was finally dawning on them that they had been dropped into an anime series, _an anime series that most would kill to be part of_ they realized and unless Bibi could create a cross-parallel transporter out of a kunai and a cell phone, they were stuck for the time being.

The door to the Hokage's office slid gracefully open to reveal the masked face of Kakashi.

"Girls, come in." He motioned for them to enter.

All the girls stood up, but paused when Kakashi started to say something again. 

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I didn't mean you." He finished then disappeared behind the door once more.

"Oh, ano, it's ok Sensei." Her cheeks colored at her mistake, hoping that Sasuke hadn't noticed her embarrassing moment. She caught herself from saying that it was a blond moment, one because she certainly was not _blond _and two, after hearing the debate of the 'whores' this afternoon.

The foreign girls walked into the room, unsure of which hokage they were going to meet. Would it be Tsunade-sama, the legendary Sannin?

They stepped lightly on the floors, aware of the thunderous noise made when they stepped too hard with their sneakers. No wonder everyone here wore those cool sandals. The sun shone through the windows opposite them, illuminating the path to the chairs situated opposite Hokage-sama's desk. Kakashi stood nonchalantly, leaning up against the wall to the right of the last chair in the cluster. The light illuminated his silver hair and cast shadows over his mask covered face.

_I wonder if he uses Pantene Pro-V for hair so healthy it shines…_ thought Vivian.

Sandaime was seated at his desk, paper hat and all, most certainly not the woman they were expecting. In front of him on a pillow was a silvery ball. On closer examination of said silvery orb, they discovered it was really a crystal ball duct-taped together.

The girls stood looking at the ball of duct-tape that was haphazardly constructed and definitely not done by a skilled person. Some of the ends were sticking up and slightly frayed along the edges that were unpeeling in various places.

"And who are these three young ladies, Kakashi?" the Third inquired.

Before he was able to respond, Laura jumped in. "I'm Laura, this is Vivian, and Bibi," while she motioned who was who.

"So, what is it that brings you to our village?"

"You see, one of them woke up with me."

"Well, is it an odd thing for you to have a girl wake up with you, Kakashi?"


	5. Team seven and a half is born

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Authors' note: Just a reminder from a previous Author's Note which we will also post on every chapter from now on, we are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.**

In the last chapter

"And who are these three young ladies, Kakashi?" the Third inquired.

Before he was able to respond, Laura jumped in. "I'm Laura, this is Vivian, and Bibi," while she motioned who was who.

"So, what is it that brings you to our village?"

"You see, one of them woke up with me."

"Well, is it an odd thing for you to have a girl wake up with you, Kakashi?"

**Chapter 5**

"No, I mean yes, but," stammered Kakashi, "but…...they have the forehead protectors of Konoha and odd technology. I've also never seen them before."

"Hmmm…let me see this foreign technology."

"But it's my phone… well here, if you really want to see it." Laura said in a slightly resigned tone, handing it over to the elderly man

Hokage-sama took the device and pressed the buttons on the side. 

His hand jerked when it started to vibrate and play the Star Wars theme song and the girls started to hum along with it.

"I wish the world of Naruto had light sabers." Vivian exclaimed, again staring off into space in a dreamy sort of manner.

"But it would be unfair to opponents." said Bibi logically.

"Light sabers?" Hokage-sama said with a raised eyebrow and questioning glance.

The three girls sweat dropped and said, "Never mind."

"Back to the matter at hand, I know partially how you came here. I saw it through the cracks in my back-up crystal looking glass. I don't know the details of how you arrived or why, but I assume there is a reason in the grand scheme of things for you three to have traveled between parallels to get here and it might have something to do with my missing looking glass. I do hate having to use this sorry excuse for one. It would probably be in our best interests and safety for all of us if none of your backgrounds are mentioned outside this room. That includes your team, Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded his head in silent understanding.

Hokage-sama continued saying "You three are from the outskirts of Konoha, which is the reason you haven't been seen before by many."

"But we come from a planet called Earth," said Laura.

It was Hokage-sama's turn to sweat drop and explain "This is your cover story, not your real history."

"Oh, blond moment, sorry." Laura said, her face flushing a bright red.

"I have a question if I may, Hokage-sama," inquired Bibi, making sure to use the correct honorific.

"Go ahead."

"How will this mess up the future that we know of this world?"

"Yeah, like cough, cough, cough" Vivian attempted to ask. Bibi patted her on the back in an attempt to relieve her of the discomfort.

"I know!" Laura attempted to write something, but every pen she tried was out of ink and every pencil she attempted to use broke.

"When all else fails, result to sign language," Bibi tried to sign, but found her hands to be numb and unusable.

"It seems that you are unable to reveal any parts of the future of Konoha as you know it," summated Hokage-sama.

"It could be dangerous and possibly alter the flow and ebb of time and other variables," he continued.

"Or, it's like the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_. Revealing the future as we know it, might just cause a freak wormhole to open. Our conversation might just then proceed to drift through it, and while some guys in bejeweled, battle shorts are trying to discuss the terms of a peace treaty on some foreign planet hear it and think the other one said it, and their countries could go to war because the phrase in their dialect meant something about the other one's mother. It could be disastrous!" All that was spoken was done so without a single breath.

Everyone paused to look at her. Vivian and Bibi tried to contain their laughter that was rising in their throats. As Laura scanned through the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book that she had stored in her backpack for the exact lines, they did indeed burst out in laughter, _laughter_ that echoed down the wood floors.

When she couldn't find it, she slammed the book shut, stuffed it carelessly into her backpack, looking around rather frustrated. She huffed as she slung the backpack back onto her shoulders.

Hokage-sama and Kakashi shared the same perplexed look across their faces. Sandaime nodded, smiled, and then resumed his train of thought.

"Now that everything is settled, Kakashi, call in your team."

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment and walked out the doors once more. He came back in followed by the members of team 7.

"Hello Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Meet your new teammates."

"Nani?" yelled Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi surprisingly enough.

"That's right, these three will be training with you, going on missions with you, and basically now part of team 7."

"Hey, we could be team 7 1/2" remarks Vivian.

Everyone in the room looked at her as she turned a few undiscovered colors of pink and red, but everyone's attention diverted towards the paper doors as they flew open to reveal a square rock.

Naruto knew it was none other than Konohamaru under the poor disguise.

"The rock" proceeded to chase Naruto in circles around the bewildered group. Finally, Naruto skidded to a halt and pointed to the obvious box saying "That is the worst rock I've ever seen. A rock is not a rectangle!"

With a poof, Konohamaru appeared and said "Aww Nii-san, you're too good at this. I will fool you next time, just you wait and see."

He looked up at the girls standing around. "Ano… Naruto-no-nii-san, are they all your..." he held up his pinky, symbolizing girlfriend.

The girls in turn then glared at him, realizing the message that Konohamaru implied.

Remembering the beating Sakura gave him the last time Konohamaru asked the same question, he quickly responded with an emphatic "No."

"Oh well, later nii-san," the little boy responded as he walked out the door as if nothing had happened.

Hokage-sama let out a sigh and said, "Better you than me Naruto."

He then turned back to Kakashi and asked, "Do you think you can handle them?"

"Hmp, no problem, what's another couple of girls? As long as they aren't like Naruto."

After Kakashi said this, he received death glares from everyone in the room but Sasuke considering that Sasuke was the only one not offended by Kakashi's remarks.

"You are all dismissed, but one more thing Kakashi." Hokage-sama said.

He waited until the newly enlarged team 7 was out the door and making their way towards the exit of the building before he continued.

"There is a reason they are here, and I want you to treat them no differently from the rest of your team, but I do want you to test their genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu and also test them in the elements." Hokage-sama directed.

"The elements?" questioned Kakashi, unsure if such measures were needed. "They couldn't possibly have that much power."

"Never doubt the unknown. We need to have all our bases covered and know what we are dealing with. You should know that from experience Kakashi."

"Hai. I understand. They really are a mystery, aren't they?"

"Yes they are, but that is also why I left them in your care. They must be of extreme importance if they were pulled between parallels. Don't let them out of your sight and don't let them get killed either, but push them enough so you see their potential. From the looks of it, they should also work well as a team." He said as he smiled.

"Maybe they will be an example of teamwork for the original team 7 members." He said and smirked, one only noticeable through the shadows of his mask.

"If that's all, I'll begin their training tomorrow."

"Go ahead Kakashi. I have paperwork to attend to."

With that said, he bowed to the Third and left. As he was closing the door, Hokage-sama quietly said, "Good luck, with those six, you'll need it."

He didn't think Kakashi could have heard him, but he had and smiled at the response from Hokage-sama as he walked down the hallway and out the doors to meet up with the cluster of his team that were waiting for him.

"What did Hokage-sama tell you just now, Sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Oh, just to keep up the good work," replied Kakashi. He put his hands in his pockets and led his little lambs down the road.

"Hey look, there's a squirrel," Naruto said while pointing to a nearby squirrel perched on a branch chewing on an acorn. He then proceeded to make grotesque, unusual faces, to scare the creature.

"Squirrels are suicidal creatures." deadpanned Bibi.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" asked Sakura.

"They like throw themselves in front of cars and other vehicles of transportation." Bibi explained blandly.

"Oh, it's like that Gieko commercial, where the squirrels run in front of the cars and make them crash, then do that handshake thing. It was so cute," replied Vivian.

"I mean they are really cute, but it's a miracle they aren't extinct. I once had a squirrel run in front of my bicycle and I almost ran it over. I practically had a heart attack when it barley missed my wheel." Bibi explained.

"That's reckless of them for sure," said Laura.

"I mean, after a while though, you learn that squirrels have a system." Bibi also said.

"A system?" Naruto wondered.

"Yes, If you are riding your bike and the squirrel is facing the side walk and there is a tree on the other side, well actually it doesn't matter if there is a tree or not, but they are going to run across. But here's the thing, squirrels are always going to aim for trees, but the problem is that if there isn't a tree directly on the other side, they are going to keep running down the sidewalk until finally they reach a tree and climb up. So now when I see a squirrel facing a sidewalk, I slow down. But there was this one time when I seriously chased this squirrel for ten feet because it couldn't find a tree."

Bibi sighed, "They are a nuisance to nature."

"Basically, if there was a road with an oncoming car and a squirrel on the side, they would either become a moving target while running across to the other side or a hood ornament for the poor unsuspecting car." summed up Laura.

"Oh," chimed Sakura and Naruto, although neither of them had any idea what the heck a car was.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but that didn't mean much. He rarely does except to argue with Naruto.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was reflecting on how these new girls were a rarity to Konoha and threw some spice into the ninja mix that he interacted with on a daily basis. He knew that Kakashi saw it too because he noticed that today was the first day he saw Kakashi only pull out that little perverted book of his once. He thought at first that it was because someone was possibly following them, but Kakashi-sensei is more composed and experienced to let something like that get to him. These girls had a serious effect, but he questioned their loyalty and purpose here. Could they be trusted?


	6. Kakashi joking?

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Authors' note: Just a reminder from a previous Author's Note which we will also post on every chapter from now on, we are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.**

Other Quick Note: We're sooooo sorry that this didn't get posted sooner. We gave it to our beta 3 weeks ago, but she's currently soooo busy that she barely has time to breath, so bear with us because this is the unedited version and we shall notify everyone when our beta gets around to our story. We'd also like to mention that we almost have chapter 7 done too, but we're not sure if we should post when we're done or put it on the pile of things to edit for our beta. Tell us what you think

**Chapter 6**

Kakashi led everyone to a large grassy plot of land. He started performing a jutsu, but it was so quick none of his team got it. Heck, they didn't even know what it was for. Kakashi stepped closer towards the abandoned area, and grabbed for something and then proceeded to walk forward and vanish.

This was a concealment jutsu far beyond what was taught by Iruka. Naruto walked up and glanced at it quizzically while scratching his head. Kakashi took that moment to swing open what apparently was a door. Yep, you probably saw that coming, though since it was invisible to him, Naruto definitely didn't. Naruto was hit by the door and almost flattened like a pancake. Kakashi swung the door shut and Naruto fell to the ground.

He got up quickly and shook it off. After everyone's attention was diverted from Naruto, they noticed a large bundle in Kakashi's hands.

"Kakashi-sensei, what is that?" asked Sakura.

"Oh, this, it's the standard issue set of weapons that you all received when graduating from the academy."

"………."

"It's for Vivian, Bibi, and Laura." He said.

He then handed the three girls individual bundles.

"Geez, what do you have in here, bricks?" asked Vivian.

"No, you don't use bricks till later in your training." He responded.

"We're going to use bricks in our training?" asked Naruto, dreading the idea.

"That was the first joke I've ever heard you make. I didn't think you had it in you." Said Laura.

"Who said I was joking?" he dully responded.

Bibi was the only one to catch the mischievous glint in his eye when he said that.

They had reached Sakura's house and Kakashi said, "Oh, by the way, I called Mrs. Haruno (?) to see if you girls could stay with Sakura until we find better sleeping arrangements since last night's were obviously a little inappropriate."

"I wouldn't mind sleeping with you any night Kakashi." Flirted Laura.

Kakashi blushes. _I'm lucky I have this mask on._

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's jaws collectively dropped. It wouldn't have been surprising if a fly or an albatross for that matter flew into their mouths that hung agape.

_Hm, that was unexpected to say the least. They won't let me forget that they are indeed different, that's for sure. Though, I guess I'm not exactly your typical jounin either since most are at least six years older than myself. Not that I wouldn't mind her suggestion..._ Kakashi mentally giggles in a way that only he and few others could.

While Kakashi was off in his land of perversion, Vivian and Bibi grimaced with mental images conjured by Laura's suggestion.

_Leave it to Laura to say those types of things. I blame them on her technology classes that were filled with testosterone driven teenage guys, the worst of which was named Ryan._ Thought Bibi as she cringed.

Whack

Bibi's hand connected with the back of Laura's head. It was just hard enough to send Laura the message to cut it out, soft enough so it was friendly and wouldn't hurt for too long, and produced a squeal from Laura loud enough to effectively bring everyone's mind from space back to the village of Konoha.

Kakashi gave a playful wink and said "Anytime."

It was now Laura's turn to blush as Kakashi disappeared from sight.

Vivian laughed at their flirtatious antics, knowing that Laura was just having fun with Kakashi.

"I'm going to go get some ramen. Bye guys." Said Naruto. He promptly took off running and was nothing more than an orange blur in the distance before long.

Sakura looked around for Sasuke and spotted him already 50 feet down the road walking at a slow pace to match his unhurried personality.

"Bye Sasuke-kun." She called out to him.

He continued walking without the slightest flinch of acknowledgment.

The door to Sakura's home opened, revealing her mother. Sakura turned to face her.

"Hi Mom." Sakura greeted dully.

"Hello sweetie, oh I see you've brought your friends. I'm Mrs. Haruno."

"I'm Laura."

"Vivian."

"Bibi. It's a pleasure to meet you m'am. Thank you for opening your home to us until we can find suitable accommodations."

The three bowed slightly in a respective greeting.

"You're quite welcome and you three can stay as long as you like." She said then smiled kindly. She then turned to face her daughter, the action causing her black knee-length skirt to ruffle gracefully. Her red blouse was crisp even after a day's worth of work and a string of black beads adorned her neck. Her pink hair was in an elegant twisted up-do held in place by a red butterfly clip and most likely a few strategically placed and well hidden bobby pins. She was an older and more mature image of Sakura in almost every aspect. "Sakura, how was your training today?"

"Fine Mom." She answered tersely as she squeezed between her mother and the door frame. "I'm going to take a shower" she called from already part way up the stairs.

"Please come in girls." Mrs. Haruno said while stepping aside, opening the door further, and extending her hand inside the house in a friendly welcoming gesture.

"You'll have to excuse Sakura. I don't know what has gotten into her today. I'll have to have a talk with her later. She usually has much better manners."

"It's probably because she had an unusually hectic and tiring day today. I'm sure she'll be back to herself after she has a chance to relax and get some rest." Said Bibi feeling sorry for everything Sakura went through today.

A frown tugged at the corner of Mrs. Haruno's lips. "Hm, she must be working herself too hard." She then smiled again. "But I bet that it will be nice for her to have some girls on her team now instead of just the boys."

The girls didn't know how to respond to her comment, so they smiled politely and followed her to the kitchen.

The house was tastefully decorated and lacked the knickknacks that they were used to seeing everywhere. Pictures of family and probably friends too lined the mahogany fire place and crown molding bordered the top of all the rooms and had matching floor boards on the bottom also. The kitchen had lightly stained aspen cabinets, countertops, and a matching table and chairs. A dark swirled countertop was a stark contrast and had shimmering flecks embedded in it. On top of the table stood a fluted glass vase with an assortment of flowers in it. There were pink carnations, yellow chrysanthemums, dark pink roses, yellow roses, pink hyacinth, and filler greenery.

Mrs. Haruno caught the girls admiring the arranged flowers. " Ino's mother owns a floral shop and made this for me. If you haven't met Ino, ask Sakura to introduce you. They were best friends when they were younger."

"Do you know what any of the flowers mean Mrs. Haruno?" asked Laura.

"Yes, actually I do. The pink carnations symbolize a mother's undying love. The yellow chrysanthemum is for luck. The dark pink roses are for thankfulness and the yellow ones are for happiness. The pink hyacinth is for youthfulness. Ino's mother did a beautiful job of arranging them and their meanings are especially fitting for this household."

The three girls just stood their and smiled, contemplating how such small delicate flowers could hold so much meaning all the while bringing happiness like the sun after a storm.

"Can I fix you three something to eat, you must be starved after your long day?"

"We can fix ourselves something if you'd like, you have probably also had a long day working and shouldn't have to slave away in the kitchen to prepare food."

"Oh, nonsense. Let me think of what we have." said Mrs. Haruno while thoughtfully tapping her lips with her index finger.

She opened the refrigerator and freezer, taking mental inventory of their contents.

"I have some chicken parmesan," she said while she looked like she was about to dive into the refrigerator with the mist of the cold air swirling with the warmer air of the kitchen giving her a mystical look.

Bibi spotted something that looked like tortillas. "We could make some chicken and cheese tostadas."

Vivian visibly flinched.

"Cheesy scalloped potatoes and ham, though I'm not sure if there is enough for all of you." The light of the refrigerator shone off her hair as she continued her journey through the unexplored depths of leftovers.

Vivian now proceeded to bite on her thumb fingernail.

"Oh, how about a healthy bowl of mixed greens with parmesan crisps. I also bought some fresh broccoli today at the market and could fix some broccoli and cheddar cheese soup."

Vivian couldn't take this torture much longer. The options were just too much for her and she was beginning to lose her grip on herself as her sanity and appetite ebbed away. She resorted to biting on her lower lip. Hard.

"Bibi, don't you just love soup when the cheese is melted on top and sticks to your spoon and stretches when you pull the spoon to your mouth. It's great when that happens with pizza too." Laura said, practically drooling over her mental images.

_I'm going to throw up soon, please if there is some god or supreme higher being out there, make them stop! _Begged Vivian's mind.

Sakura walked in with her damp pink hair clinging to her face.

"Do you want anything to eat Sakura?" her mother asked.

"Did you get some bread at the market today Mom?"

"Yes honey, it's over there on the counter." She said as she straightened from her place at the fridge, closed its door and pointed to the bag with the bread.

Vivian was relieved to hear food that didn't involve ch-. She couldn't even bring her mind to say that dreaded word.

"I think I'll toast it with some cheese on top." Mentioned Sakura as she moved to retrieve the cheese from the refrigerator.

That was the breaking point. There was only so much talk and mention of cheese that Vivian could stand before it became too much for her to handle.

"Why, why do you torture me like this?" Vivian said with a cross between anger and begging in her voice. "What have I done to deserve this…this…atrocity. I can see it now, death by CHEESE!." She proclaimed while waving her hands in the air. She spun around on her feet and walked out of the room.

After a rather unusual silence, Mrs. Haruno asked "Is she alright?"

"Oh yes, I just forgot that she detests and despises cheese." Explained Laura.

"Oh dear, I did try and push the dairy a little, didn't I?" the obviously guilty feeling mother said with a worry creased forehead.

"Don't worry about it Mrs. Haruno, but would it be okay if we took her some bread and butter?" inquired Bibi while trying to set everyone's mind at ease.

"Of course, help yourselves. I'll get some blankets and mats out of the linen closet and take them up to the guest room while you do that." Replied Mrs. Haruno as she bustled off to figure out sleeping arrangements for the guests.


	7. Pillow Talk

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Authors' note: Just a reminder from a previous Author's Note which we will also post on every chapter from now on, we are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.**

Other Quick Note: We gave it to our beta 3 weeks ago, but she's currently soooo busy that she barely has time to breath, so bear with us because this is the unedited version and we shall notify everyone when our beta gets around to our story. And yes, we are currently writing chapter 8 and hope to have it done soon

**Chapter 7**

"Here mom, I'll take the bread since I seemed to have been the last straw of the situation."

She took the decorated plate heaping with slices of fresh soft bread and a precariously balanced clear dish of butter and a knife.

The carpeting did little to soften the distressed clomping of Vivian's feet on the stairs and by the sound of it, she was taking them two at a time.

Sakura walked up the stairs, following the obviously upset Vivian. She saw a fluff of brown hair as it disappeared behind a corner and knew exactly where the girl was going.

_Breath in, breath out. Inhale, exhale. Quite the stomach, calm the mind. I refuse to reflect any longer on the chee, ah, substance that everyone else in this household seems to be infatuated with, even if there is one type that I'm sure causes cancer or something horrid like that. It's their choice, not mine to die from that bacteria infested ill-tasting mush_, reflected Vivian, trying to keep her mind from drifting off and thinking of other matters.

The hunter stalked its prey. Carefully, silently, one false move, one broken twig and her plans would be foiled. She calculated the distance and planned for the opportune moment to seize her prey. The tiger had to be lightning fast, for it was unknown if the lost animal was overly skittish or not.

She saw Vivian standing there, dead stiff, but her body lightly trembling. She was away from home and scared, so much had happened today that it became overwhelming and the cheese just set off the ticking time bomb that was her mind.

Sakura couldn't be closer to the truth of Vivian being far away from home. In fact, she couldn't be farther from home.

Humanity slowly seeped back into Sakura, permeating her pores and wrapping around her heart. Compassion quieted Inner Sakura for the first time today and for a rare moment, Sasuke wasn't the only thing she was thinking of. Her mind was affected by the sight of Vivian standing here, however temporary the affect on her, it was touching. She knew that if she were the one away from home and randomly told to train as a ninja, she would have been in tears already. Who knows anything about these girls, their background, their plans for a future that were scrubbed in moments of meeting with the Hokage. Did they have parents, or even a guy that they were leaving behind, to be cursed by the lonely life of a ninja? Tears pricked her vision. Yes, now was the time to break the almost tangible silence that blanketed her room. The hunter has acknowledged the aforementioned prey and is calling for a temporary truce.

"You know, you were on the right track, but you plopped down in the wrong room," Sakura said to Vivian who was sitting on a purple shag rug staring out the window still taking an occasional deep breath.

She barely blinked as Sakura spoke, though she heard her, she didn't acknowledge. Not knowing enough to accurately predict her actions, she had to question her intentions in coming up after her. Was the Tiger playing cat and mouse with the prey? Mind games can deceive quickly without realization, and soon the trusting prey might become an easy meal.

* * *

The rest of that afternoon and evening passed without injury or death. The three girls kept to themselves for the most part while Sakura devised a Plan A in her head.

* * *

The guestroom floor was a patchwork quilt of bedrolls, blankets, and pillows. Three backpacks were leaning up against the wall in one corner of the room.

"Well, this has been one heck of a day." Said Vivian who was patting her wet curly hair with a green terrycloth towel.

"It sure has," said Laura with a sigh.

"Do you think that anyone realizes that we are gone or even misses us?" thought Vivian out loud.

"I already miss my parents and I'm worried about them." Responded Bibi with a distant look across her face. "But I'm sure that they miss us and are probably calling the police, armed forces, and every relative in our family trees trying to track us down."

"But what if time is occurring at a different rate in this parallel than it does on Earth? We might have been gone only a few seconds of Earth's time but the equivalent of a day here." Said Laura.

Vivian ran her fingers through her locks of hair and parted it neatly as she took in what Laura was saying.

"For that matter, how do we know that we're not all passed out on the floor of the convention center and just dreaming this whole thing up?" continued Laura.

"But then how come we're all in it and having our own thoughts and feelings. Would it be considered a joint dream, and if you think of it that way, it wouldn't be possible," said Bibi trying to find some reason.

"Bibi, you know that you just stated that it wasn't possible that we could be having a joint dream but that it is possible that we crossed parallels and ended up in the world of Naruto right? Wouldn't it make more sense to just say that all of this isn't plausible?"

Bibi mused it over, and decided. "You're right, but then you also just suggested that we broke all laws of physics and probably affected some funky space time continuum in arriving here."

Vivian decided that it was time for her to stop this insane sci-fi reasoning session before it got too out of hand. "Look you guys, why don't we just – whaaaa!" Before she could finish, she hit her foot on the only piece of furniture in the room and landed on the floor. She stood up, rubbing her slightly bruised back side and said, "That hurt too much to be a dream."

The girls laughed off the incident and decided to rest their cases in the debate over reality.

Sakura peeked her head through the door to see what all the commotion was about. She deemed the room safe for entry and opened the door further and stepped in.

"Hey guys, I brought some nail polish and thought you guys might want to do your nails and relax before bed. We could have some quality girl talk now that you are apart of team 7." Sakura said with false cheerfulness.

"Girl talk?" Bibi was reminded of the last sleepover with Vivian and Laura. Laura tried to teach the two of them how to play Halo 2 and Project Gothem Racing 2. The then stayed up till 2 in the morning having an in depth critical analysis discussion on the latest books they've read. So much for the term "girl talk". This might prove interesting considering how it was obvious as day that Sakura wanted to talk to them about something specific.

Sakura thought she had it all planned out. After all, she was an intelligent kunochi and she could come up with some decent strategic plans. She'd have them confessing in no time as to who woke up with her Sasuke-kun. Then she would make it impeccably clear that Sasuke was her territory and hers along. Inner Sakura echoed her thoughts with an enthusiastic "hell yeah!"

"Well, I hope you'll be more comfortable than you were this morning." Her eyebrow tweaked upwards, hinting for someone to catch on to her line of thoughts and talk about their morning encounters.

A pregnant pause followed her comment along with the three girls looking back and forth as if mentally communication as to who was going to speak first.

"So, what was it like this morning, I mean it must have been terrifying to wake up to some strange guy." Sakura continued, hoping that this time someone would speak up since her subtlety before seemed to be lost on the girls.

Laura sensed why Vivian and Bibi were waiting, so she played along with their plan. Though they didn't say what it was, they knew each other well enough to know what they were thinking and since it was obvious from the day's occurrences that Laura woke up with Kakashi, she took the plunge and spoke up.

"Well, It wasn't too horrible waking up next to Kakashi. Don't get me wrong, I was freaked out about it and I was very disoriented," she paused to collect her thoughts, ready to make some witty comment, "but at least he was easy on the eyes and not some hideous deformed beast."

Sakura almost spit out the water she had started to sip, heck it was pretty close to coming out her nose. This girl was talking about her sensei, she didn't want to have these mental images. Who knows how old he really is under that mask. Wait a second, mask, maybe she saw him without his mask!

"So, what do you think of him covering up his face?" Sakura was now interested in the topic since she and probably every other inhabitant of Konoha wanted to discover what he really hid under it. Was it fish lips, scars, who knows?

Laura knew of all the failed attempts that either occurred or would occur in the future depending on how you look at the timeline of anime. Oh yes, she could use what happened this morning for blackmail later. For now though, she'd play along and pretend it never happened.

"How should I know, he's attached to that mask like it's a security blanket."

Sakura sighed, "Well, what about you two?"

As it turns out, Sakura wasn't the only one that could play mind games. They all knew she was still thinking of Sasuke, man did she need a hobby, but they were going to keep her in suspense a little longer.

"The guy I woke up with was visibly startled by my presence and lost control of his emotions as one point." Answered Vivian.

"Mine just kind of stood there," said Bibi, knowing that her answer was going to throw off Sakura because she would assume that the emotionless one was the Uchiha.

"So, Bibi, he was pretty speechless, eh?"

"You could say that," Bibi bit back a laugh as she saw the fire of determination raging in Sakura's eyes. She had opened her mouth to continue her interrogation and stake her claim of Saskue, but was cut short by Vivian.

"So, do you like being a ninja?"

"Yes, I do –"

"Does it involve a lot of training?"

"Of course –"

"Have you done many hard missions?"

"No, but –"

"How about easy mindless missions?

"Mostly –"

"Is Kakashi a good teacher?"

"Well –"

"Does Naruto always talk a lot?"

"You wouldn't believe" answered Sakura, though she was thinking that Naurto didn't have much on Vivian considering how fast she was firing off these questions. At this rate, her plan would be shot down in minutes.

She gripped the sheets of the bedroll in her hand till she felt her nails digging through the thin fabric into her palm and her knuckles turned slightly white. She grit her teeth together, hoping she could calm her inner self down, but was losing the battle.

"Bibi!" she exclaimed, hoping her shout would put a stop to Vivian's chain of questions.

Bibi snapped her head up to look at Sakura and smiled politely. "You know Sakura, we should probably get some sleep."

"But –"

"Don't you remember that Kakashi said we had training tomorrow?"

"Yes, -"

"Well, then I'd say that that is reason enough to get to bed."

"Ah –"

"And I'm sure you mother wouldn't want you to be dead on your feet tomorrow and risk getting injured, so it would probably be in the best interest of all of us if we turned in now. Thanks for letting us stay her Sakura, hope you sleep well."

Sakura just sat there, wondering what had just happened. She had her plans foiled before she could say more than two words at a time. She crashed her head into the pillow and groaned softly in defeat.

* * *

Sakura's mind was still catching up from the fast paced volley of the night's conversation when she was lying on her bed, trying with all her might to quell Inner Sakura's raging voice echoing all her thoughts. Tomorrow was training, and then maybe, she might just have the chance to beat them and show Sasuke that she was strong and could carry her own weight in the team. Who knows, maybe if she's lucky he'll even compliment her on her skills and charka control.

Little did she know of how the events of tomorrow were going to play out.


	8. Surprise!

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. 

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts_

**Authors' note:** Just a reminder from a previous Author's Note which we will also post on every chapter from now on, we are changing the ages of the characters for the sake of this story. Yes we know that it doesn't follow the ages of the characters of the show/manga. We are making Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the characters that are all their age, 16 years old at the beginning of this story and around the time of the first series. Kakashi is 19 years old, the youngest of the jounin, and he is still an ex-ANBU. Basically everything starts off around the second season of the show. The only thing that is different is all of their ages. Now, on with the story.

**Other Quick Note:** Still haven't gotten anything back from beta, so we are taking away her title, given her the pink slip, and cut her lose. This all means that everything is going to stay unedited until another unsuspecting beta comes along and offers to help or until the story is done (the end is currently nowhere in sight) and we get around to fixing everything. Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter our, midterms were our pending doom for a while, but now they are over with and the sun is shining with a promise of more writing.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep._

Vivian's eyes fly open as her body jerks upright, practically causing whiplash.

_Deja vu._  
She looks around and sees Bibi peacefully slumbering on her side, facing away from her. Then there was Laura on her other side, unceremoniously sprawled on her bedroll with an arm hanging off one side and a pink socked foot poking through at the bottom of the sheet.

_I'm so glad that I'm in Sakura's house, not that I wouldn't mind looking at Sasuke in the morning considering he's pretty cute, but I was afraid yesterday was happening all over again. It would be like that movie, Groundhog Day staring Bill Murray where he keeps living Groundhog Day over and over again. Now that is a nightmare._

Bibi's sleep crusted eyes cracked open as she got up silently and walked out of the room, not yet awake enough to acknowledge Vivian's presence.

_I'm surprised she didn't walk into a wall or wander into the wrong room at the state of mind she's in. Heck, her mind isn't even functioning yet. She could probably use some coffee, not that she would drink the caffeine laced stuff, but it would probably give her enough of a jolt to wake up in the mornings properly. Or I could give her some strong Brazilian tea._

Bibi returned from the bathroom and she smiled at Vivian, proving that there was in fact someone home inside her head. She looked over at Laura, who was still asleep, even after the alarm clock's dutiful sounding that could have awaken the dead or called an army to war.

What a ninja she would make. She has no sense of danger or anyone around her and would be dead by now if she was off on a mission. Imagine how easy it would be for an enemy nin to creep up or even bring a marching band with them in honor of her assassination and she wouldn't hear it coming. Bibi thought, slightly amused with her friend's sleeping habits; after all, this presented the perfect moment to get revenge on Laura for all the times she was poked in her side sending her into fits of giggles. Yes, this would be revenge.

Bibi slid over to Laura's side and was about to poke her when she heard a mumble coming from the girl's form. She caught Vivian's questioning glance, silently wondering why Bibi stopped her approach of Laura. She motioned down to Laura and put a finger to her own lips, motioning down to Laura's unmoving body.

"Mph, Kakashi," Laura mumbled into the feathers of her pillow.

Bibi looked at her accomplice with an open mouth and wondered just what weird dream the sleeping teenage girl was having. (A/N: don't be perverted, get your mind out of the gutter - )

Vivian slowly moved backwards in preparation for Laura's awakening.

Bibi got into a crouched position, poked Laura in the side and sprang backwards, away from danger.

Laura was lurched awake and emitted a startled noise sounding similar to a war cry. In her action, her limbs went flying in a poor attempt to defend herself and something came into contact with Bibi's leg. Bibi screeched, not expecting the hit to her shin.

Sakura made a b-line for the room that was transmitting a cacophony for half the village to hear.

_There must be a missing s-class nin in their from the sound of it. Someone must be attacking the girls._

She grabbed her kunai and threw open the door and taking a battle stance, not hesitating in the least.

Vivian looked up to the sudden burst of a being into their room. Her laughter only increased when she saw Sakura standing at ready with a kunai in her hand, clad in bunny print flannel pants and matching shirt looking anything but intimidating.

Her eyes widened, Vivian was clutching her sides with laughter, Laura looked ready to fight Bibi as Bibi stood in the corner of the room looking like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Sakura sweat dropped and loosened her stiff pose and let her arm with the kunai slack to her side. She pivoted on her heel and stalked out of the room. With any luck, the day would all be over soon. _I should have just stayed in bed, _she thought.

* * *

The four girls walked up to the bridge and Sasuke who was blankly staring out from his position leaning casually against the side railing. 

"Hi Sasuke-kun," Sakura greeted cheerfully.

"Hmph." Was the only sound of response made by Sasuke.

Laura took off her backpack, shifting some of its contents that were poking her in the back and started to put it back on. She was halfway through the motion when she paused and dropped it back to the ground.

"No sense in being weighed down when we're just standing here." She said.

Vivian and Bibi nodded and similarly dropped their bags to the ground.

The radiating blond ball of energy, also known as Naruto, bounced up to the group with a thousand watt grin that could rival one of Gai's, but minus the shine off the bicuspids.

"Good morning Sakura-chan" he practically sang.

She frowned at him and turned away from him, acting as cold as Sasuke acts towards her.

Laura sauntered towards Bibi and Vivian and slung an arm around both of their shoulders. "Can you feel the love tonight?" She asked with feigned seriousness but full of sarcasm. Bibi laughed and then sang a few longs from the Lion King classic song then settled for humming the rest of it.

* * *

**An hour later**

* * *

Vivian stood against the railing of the bridge, her hands rested on its fade and cracking painted surface, looking into the serene waters below her. Leaves floated by while ducks caused ripples to spread around their buoyant paddling forms and fish darted from their presence. 

_It's nice not to see paper cups from fast food chains and other trash lining the waterways here. Everything seems fresher and untouched, unlike back on earth. There, the pollution of our times hung in there air, never fading, like a persistent bad cough. Byproducts would probably erode at Earth's atmosphere until there was none left. _

Poof

Gray smoke swirled around the hazy form of Hatake Kakashi as he appeared high above the bridge on one of its supporting tresses. Everyone's attention was diverted from whatever they were doing to him and his grand entrance.

"You're late Kakashi, care to explain yourself?" Bibi said nonchalantly while looking up at him, her hand cupped at her forehead to shade her eyes from the glaring afternoon sun.

"Well, I got lost in my closet and didn't stop to ask for directions," he claimed. His gaze was meeting everyone's as he said this, but stopping to hold eye contact a few seconds longer with Laura.

Her cheeks colored slightly, remembering yesterday's escapades in his closet that prompted his idea for today's excuse.

Vivian and Bibi smiled, recalling what Laura had told them of her slight mix up in exiting his apartment.

"Typical male," mumbled Sakura.

Kakashi jumped off the beams with catlike finesse and landed gracefully on the bridge, then casually putting a gloved hand in his pants packet.

"I have a surprise for you guys today," he said as his visible eye crinkled in amusement.

"Surprise, I love surprises!" Cheered Naruto.

This earned him a swift pounding on the head from Sakura and Sasuke just scoffed in Naruto's general direction.

"We're going camping."

"Nani!" Naruto and Sakura once again said together.

"I thought I might take you guys on something of a field trip so that we could get more acquainted and see what you three can do." Kakashi stated while pulling out a book.

"When do we leave," asked Vivian.

"Now." Kakashi said while turning the page of his book.

Bibi, Laura and Vivian picked up their backpacks and put them on their backs, following Kakashi who was already walking off.

"But I haven't had time to pack!" exclaimed a Sakura who looked to be on the verge of hyperventilating.

"A good ninja is always prepared," Kakashi called out while scanning the page in he was on.

"You should take after the other girls, they all have what they need." stated Sasuke as if everyone in the world knew this fact.

_AHHHHH He just told me to be more like them. What's happening. I was supposed to get compliments from him and show the other girls up. Damn whores_ raged Inner Sakura.

Sakura continued to mumble to herself while she completely ignored Naruto. When he finally gave up on talking to Sakura, his stomach gave a loud grumble.

"Oh, I wish I had packed some ramen. I could have had vegetable, beef, or chicken. I could have even gotten some of those take-out boxes full from Irachiku's (spelling?)"

"Shut up dobe" Sasuke said bluntly to Naruto.

Bibi suddenly stopped, took off her backpack, and rummaged through it.

"Hey Naruto, I know it isn't much, but here's a book on 101 ways to cook ramen. Even though you can't eat it, you can look at the pictures for a while." She said while holding up a book that in Naruto's eyes was the equivalent to the Bible.

His eyes widened and he started to charge towards his beloved book of Ramen.

Bibi saw him coming at her like a bull who had seen the red flag, and in a panicked decision, she chucked the book away from her.

Everyone, except Kakashi who was walking ahead, still with his masked nose in that perverted book, stopped and watched in slow motion as the book sailed through the air up and out of Naruto's grasp. He skidded to a halt and turned around, determined to retrieve the book when it finally fell. The book continued sailing, right towards Kakashi. When the cook book was a hair's width from Kakashi's head, he caught it without even turning around or stopping. He now turned around, holding Come Come Paradise in one hand and the 101 ways to cook ramen in the other.

"I think you dropped your book Bibi." He said with a sense of no emotion.

She covered her mouth with both her hands as she gasped. She brought them down and started to apologize profusely. "Oh my gosh Kakashi, I am so sorry. I wasn't aiming for you. YouseeNarutosawwhatthebookwasandstartedtochargeatmeandsoIgotscaredandthrewthebook." She finished her explanation in only 3 breaths. She would have probably gotten to her knees to apologize if he hadn't given Naruto the book right then.

Good thing the book was laminated, because Naruto started to drool all over it.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Besides, you were just testing my reflexes. Next time throw harder so I have to try more. I am a skilled jounin after all, ne?" He said to Bibi.

"I guess so." She said as she smiled.

"Well, I think we'll set up camp here, and there is a river beyond those trees there." Kakashi said, pointing off to the east.

"Tomorrow I'll have a chance to test your skill so I can figure out if I should train you guys or just send you back to the Hokage." Kakashi said as he went back to his book, leafing through it until he found his dog eared page.

Vivian and Laura heard this and took a nervous gulp. Bibi wasn't quite sure if he was joking or not, but his comment definitely didn't ease her nerves in the least.

Kakashi rolled out his sleeping bag and jumped into a near by tree to read the latest version of Come Come Paradise. Sasuke cleared some ground for where he was going to sleep tonight, and Naruto randomly plopped down on to the ground, sending leaves up into the air. Sakura found a patch of grass near Sasuke and also sat down. As soon as she did this, Sasuke stood up, brushed off the dirt and leaves from his pants and said he was going to go catch some fish.

Naruto looked around and tagged along after him. After all, he had to catch more fish than his Uchiha rival. Sakura said she was going to go gather wood for a fire and everyone knew she was also going to try to see Sasuke with his shirt off. The three girls exchanged unsure glances.

"Anything we can do Kakashi?" Laura asked.

"Hm, no. Just find a place to sleep for tonight." He said like his mind was elsewhere.

Vivian sat her pack down and triumphantly and pulled out a small package and started unfolding it.

* * *

**5 minutes later. **

* * *

"Ah, ha!" 

Bibi turned to look at Vivian.

"I have a raincoat!" yelled Vivian.

"That's great, but it's not raining," said Bibi.

"But it's not for rain" replied Vivian.

"Then are you going to flash everyone?" Asked Laura.

"No, but since you two also have raincoats, we can somehow connect two of them, toss them over a low tree branch, and use the one left over for the floor. The only problem is connecting them." Vivian said, verbally laying out her blueprints for a makeshift tent.

Kakashi watched discretely with interest. This was the beginning of his testing whether they knew it or not, and so far they had managed to catch onto the survival training faster than Naurto, Sasuke, and Sakura. This could hopefully inspire the others, but it was highly unlikely since they didn't even come prepared with anything but the clothes on their back. These girls might have a chance of fitting in with the ninja group after all he mused. Plus, he was curious as to how exactly they were going to construct said "tent" and if all else fails, it would prove to be an amusing fiasco.

After a few brain wracking moments, Laura stood up, her eyes beaming from enlightenment. "Hair clips." She said as if it were as plain as day.

Seeing the other's puzzled looks, she went on to explain her outburst of an idea.

We take the hair clips or claws or whatever you want to call them, and connect the raincoats and clip it around the branch so they don't go anywhere and are strong enough to hold since they have a spring in them.

Now, following her somewhat accessorized train of thoughts, the three set about constructing their shelter.

By the time the girls had constructed their raincoat fortress, Sakura had gotten enough fire wood to last through the night. Naruto came back from the river soaking wet, clothes clinging to him like a second skin. Sasuke trudged into the camp shortly after Naruto with a scowl chiseled on his face and a pile of fish in his arms.

"What took you so long Sasuke?" asked Kakashi, just to irk the poor boy.

"That dobe continuously jumped into the river along with his herd of kage bunshins and scared off all the fish. Next time, either he doesn't come with me, or someone else can catch the food." That was the end of his explanation and turned away, sulking into the corners of the shadows cast upon the ground by the trees and the slowly sinking sun still slightly emanating light through tops of the foliage.

Not long after dinner, the sun played its final game of hide and seek as it dipped down and was engulfed by the horizon. Crickets chirped off in the distance, their melody informing of the moderate temperature that seemed to welcome campers with open arms, just cool enough to breath easily but still warm enough to keep one's body at homeostasis.


	9. Raindrops falling on my fort

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. We did not invent combat boots, and we can not be blamed for using the word charka instead of chakra because Word automatically corrects it…grrrrrr.

**Summary:** "Who are those three girls and why did they appear in our rooms?" pondered Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi. They are on a mission, quest, thing of intelligence!

_Italics denotes mental thoughts _

A/N: We FINALLY got a new beta, and she said she would be happy to edit the chapters previous to this one and all other we come up with unless she dies in a freak lightning storm, so let's hope that she doesn't play golf on a rooftop during a hurricane. runs up to her and hugs her so hard her eyes start to bulge slightly We've made this chapter extra long in celebration for having 600 hits on alone. Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. -hugs- If you want to check out some Naruto fan art you can go to our deviant art account at http/www.aikokakashi. due to recent events in the Naruto series and manga, we are reevaluating where we stand in the whole Naruto plot line and will promise to explain when we decide exactly when this is all occurring since we decided to try and keep the story a little more recent than what we had first decided on.

**Chapter 9 **

"Well, the Hokage apparently sensed some sort of chakra well inside of you three, though since I don't know how much, you'll probably have to train to the point of collapse a few times to correctly measure your total amount of stamina and chakra," Kakashi said with an easy almost excited air. If one didn't know him, they might mistake his tone as actually looking forward to the collapse of the girls from hard training, though even if you did know him, you would guess the same thing.

He pulled out yet another orange book while saying "I guess you should first get a lesson on basic chakra tonight though." He opened the book and immediately fell victim to its plot and graphical aids.

After a pregnant silence of staring into the multifaceted depths of the fire Vivian spoke up. "Um Kakashi, didn't you say that you were going to explain chakra to us."

The spell on the jounin was broken, however temporarily, as he resumed the use of motor skills. "Oh yes, Sakura, explain it to them." With that, he was re-engrossed with the book in his hands.

"Hai Sensei!" Sakura responded, proud to show off her detailed knowledge.

"I don't know how much or how little you know, so I guess I'll start with the basics taught to the rest of us during our time in the academy. There are two sources of energy: stamina, which is like physical energy and chakra which is kind of like mental energy. Taijutsu uses pure stamina and is easier to control energy and direct, while Ninjutsu and Genjutsu use chakra."

She paused, noticing Naruto also watching with trepid interest. No matter how many times he listened to teachers rant on and on about the matter, he never really listened, and hated the feeling he got when everyone told him he was stupid and blatantly ignored him.

Sasuke seemed to be all but invisible, quietly lurking in the shadows cast by the ethereal moon, fire reflecting off his almost black irises.

"Stamina is converted to chakra for many techniques but it cannot be transferred back."

"Okay, so it is kind of like potential energy that becomes kinetic energy when released," commented Bibi.

"Yes."

"So, no stamina equals no chakra, which equals a dead shinobi," said Laura in more simplistic terms that made Kakashi bite back a laugh at her bluntness.

"Yes. Now the hard part is controlling and using the chakra wisely. This requires a lot of training. You have to know the exact amount of chakra needed to execute a technique, or else it takes up too much stamina and you waste energy. Another obstacle to overcome is the issue of concentration. You have to concentrate to convert chakra, which is hard to do by itself, and even harder to do while in battle."

She was calling up many valid points that would help all 6 of them if they actually applied what she was saying.

"Along with all this, you have to know the right hand seals for the desired technique which when paired with proper concentration allows you to convert your stamina into chakra."

She paused again, tapping her lip with her pointer finger, mentally creating diagrams of chakra to explain her next lesson.

"That's enough for tonight Sakura. You can lecture your young grasshoppers tomorrow," broke in Kakashi.

"Soon you shall see the grasshopper becomes the teacher and the cycle continues Kakashi. Just wait, in no time you'll be learning from us." Laura said with a playful wink.

Her comment earned her an outright laugh from the jounin. "It will take you years to get to a level that even starts to resemble my skill." He told her while patting her on the head as he stood up, making her in turn feel like a small child being laughed at by a parent.

"Tonight will be a warm muggy night. You all should be getting to bed, after all, 5 am comes early." With that said, he jumped up into the tree to keep watch from a bird's eye view.

"5?" Naruto yelled in utter disbelief that such a time actually existed in the morning.

"Yes Naruto, shut up so I can get to sleep," Sakura said, hoping desperately to avoid a question and answer session with Naruto that he otherwise was sure to make.

With that said, she dragged her body towards the space on the ground she had cleared off earlier and sat, leaning her head against the tree trunk. Sasuke was already doing the same, but making sure to be far enough away from Sakura. Naruto curled up on the ground, after all, one patch of dirt is as good as any, and the three girls remaining made way to their raincoat fortress.

* * *

It was a "slightly" muggy night with a hanging moisture that you could almost taste if you stuck out your tongue for long enough, though you would probably also receive a mouthful of bugs as well, but who doesn't need a little extra protein? 

As Laura lay still awake, she heard the paced breathing of Bibi and the slightly louder sound of Vivian's breaths beside her, her mouth partially ajar. Her eyes were fully adjusted to the blanket of darkness that engulfed them, but all she was staring at was the canvas of the raincoat above her.

_What a boring day, though it beats going to my classes back home. There's only so much precalculus and I can take in a lifetime, I don't know why Bibi enjoys math so much. Home, what is my home now? Am I supposed to forget everyone and everything that happened on Earth and adopt all new customs and friends here? I have all these thoughts bouncing between my ears like one of those super bouncy balls you get out of a machine for a couple of quarters. I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for Bibi and Vivian being in this with me. I guess I really don't have too much to miss back on Earth. Bibi and Vivian were my only good friends, sure I had others, but they were like acquaintances. I'm going to be up all night if I can't stop thinking. _

Plop Plop

The first drops of good old H2O hit the raincoats, causing them to echo and run down the water resistant sides of raincoats.

_"Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don't worry about clear mind: it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes, You must not be attached to the coming or the going." I don't know where I've heard the quote, but it must have been buried in the depths of my mind, laying dormant, waiting to be evoked. _

The saying clamed Laura's mind as she drifted slowly from the shores of consciousness, only to be yanked back by a string of choice words from Naruto.

God, I apparently won't be getting any sleep tonight even with the lulling sound of rain. Wait a second, rain!…..Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi must be getting wet!

Laura carefully got up, balanced herself in a crouched position, exited their waterproof tent and made her way out side. Raindrops fell around her, leaving water marks on her clothes and making her hair stick to her face.

"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto." They were all awake and turned to look at her. "Come into the tent, getting sick from staying out in the rain all night will only hold you back in training."

In a flash, Naruto was already in the tent and arranging himself in a fetal position. Sakura walked up to Laura, her bubblegum pink hair stringy and limp from the rain. "Thank you" she said in a quiet voice as Laura just smiled back at her.

Sasuke still sat with his back against a tree, water dripping down his face. "You know Sasuke, if you get sick, that means you won't be able to train, and then you'll never be able to get strong enough to beat Itachi." Laura knew how to push his buttons, so taking a slight blow to his ego, he got up and moved into the tent.

Kakashi watched the exchange silently from a spot in a different tree than before. _Maybe this enlarged team will work out after all. _

"Quit lurking in the tree Kakashi and get your behind down here and into that tent," she said pointedly, eyeing the foliage that was covering his presence.

He hopped down and landed in front of her so quickly that she took a step back, but caught her mistake and tried to cover it up by stepping closer to him and poking him in the chest. "You have horrible stealth for an ex-ANBU member."

"And you're one to talk? At your current skill level, Konohamaru could probably beat you" he countered.

Defeated, she said "whatever Kakashi, stay outside in the rain, catch pneumonia and die for all I care. It's too late to argue over anything if you don't have enough common sense to stay out of the rain."

She turned and took a step away from him.

"Now you really don't mean that Laura, and you're right, it would be stupid of me to pass up a chance to sleep with you again."

She whipped her head around, her hair fanning out and spraying water everywhere. Lightning lit up the sky and her face, shining into her glaring eyes. "Egotistical male!"

He motioned for her to go into the tent first and they both struggled to find enough room to house their long limbs. The raincoat fortress looked more like a can of ninja sardines than anything else, but at least they were all dry and starting to accept each other.

* * *

Kakashi shifted towards a warm body, the only source of warmth in the near vicinity, to fend off the cold nip of the night.

* * *

Hours later birds chorused, rousing the forest from its peaceful slumbering. Something or someone moved, making Kakashi instantly alert. A trained eye snapped open and his body became tense. There was no sign of sleep or weariness in the muscles of his body. He had a figure held captive in his arms. Said figure shifted against his bindings, so he tightened his grip. Warmth penetrated through the layers of clothes and reached his skin, sending goosebumps up and down his arms from the temperature difference. A figure from behind gave him a sharp elbow in the back that he couldn't deflect since his hands were full. He snapped his head to the side to get a visual of his attacker; the sleeping form of Vivian, and his captive upon closer inspection was Laura. 

He loosened his grip on her, but didn't let go altogether. It was comfortable. Not the literal feeling of comfort, because who could be comfortable sharing a single raincoat tent with 6 other people, but one of those comforts where time slows and one couldn't help but smile. Most spend their entire lives attempting to create this comfort and never succeed. It was a comfort that only another human being could bring, but was she the right human to gibe him that comfort that he so suddenly so desperately wanted? What would the rest of the team say if they found out his feelings for her? Sure, he liked the girl, but did she reciprocate the feelings that were currently coursing through his body? He weaved a web of flirtation and teasing, but could she see past it to his heard?

_Damn it, I must have too much free time to be thinking of something as silly as this. I almost miss the ANBU assignments that took up all my thoughts and left no time to spend pondering about such matters as this. _

_Hell, I'm her sensei for god's sake! _

Kakashi shook his head at himself while still deciding if he should remove his arms from around her form. He could take them away and forget it ever happened or leave them there, causing her to be embarrassed in the morning, call him a pervert and start off the day's rounds of banter… but he didn't want to lose the comfort and closeness. Just a little longer. Just a little longer until he will surely be pushed away and kept at an arm's length from her. From Laura.

He looked down at her as she nestled into his embrace, still asleep as he laid there awake. His decision made; he stayed with his arms around her, acting like her life sized stuffed animal.

* * *

As the sun rose, so did Naruto, team 7's own personal orb of energy and cheerfulness. 

"Kakashi-sensei," a groggy voice called, "you lied. You said it was going to be a nice night, but we got rained on and now practically frozen into shinobi popsicles."

By this time Naruto had awoken everyone else in the raincoat fortress and his eyes went wide as he looked more closely at his teacher. "Why are you holding onto Laura?"

Kakashi looked at Laura, waiting to see the telltale signs of embarrassment appear on her cheeks. He wasn't sure what was worse, the fact it never came, or the fact she was wearing a smirk on her face. This was an unexpected turn of events.

She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and made her eyes water. "You just couldn't keep your hands off me until we were alone. You didn't even ask if I was interested. I don't even want to know what might have happen if all of them weren't in the tent with us." She sniffed for the added effect of drama. "You are an inconsiderate egotistical bastard."

Finishing her performance, she flung open the side of the tent and walked into the woods. Her shock tactics were good, Kakashi admitted to himself, but he would have his revenge when she least expected it.

Vivian looked at Sasuke who had his feet stuck out straight, arms supporting his upper body, as he leaned back slightly to get a better view of the exchange between Laura and Kakashi. It wasn't that he was particularly interested in watching the two of them, but who could ignore some amusement that even made Naruto shut up. (Apparently the blond boy too was slightly intrigued.)

Sasuke looked up and met Vivian's eyes. His black pupils were devoid of emotion and practically unreadable; he was either too tightly bottled up inside or was trained to project nothing but a cold, harsh, and emotionless demeanor. She quickly looked down with a slight blush, hoping that he wouldn't say anything about her stare; God only knew, he didn't need any more fan girls.

Bibi was torn between going after Laura or waiting for her to come back on her own. She was a big girl after all, but she still couldn't help but worry about her friend. She whipped her head towards the direction of Vivian and then again towards the forest, causing her hair to fan out and almost hit Naruto across the face. She nodded her head, her decision was made. She started to get up to follow after Laura when Kakashi's arm shot out before she even realized it. She teetered precariously on the balls of her toes.

"Stay." He said tersely.

She nodded her head again and lowered her head in submission. That made the decision to follow far easier.

"We don't need two foolish people running around the forest."

"Are you guys going to stay in that tent all day?" called a distant voice resounded.

Kakashi looked up. Just past the grass coated in a light frost that seemed to fan out in a circle from their cleared campsite. Laura was walking up with a bundle of dried wood. The frozen grass crunched slightly under her sandals as she walked up to the remnants of the last night's fire and stacked the wood with careful precision. "Would you do the honors Sasuke?"

"Fine" was all the reply that came from him before he was spewing fire.

Bibi then said something that could only be described as music to Naruto's ears and stomach alike, "You ready for breakfast?"

His ears would have perked up if he had been an animal such as a rabbit, but instead his stomach grumbled loudly. He got up to head for the fire, took a step and as his sandal came into contact with the ground, it skimmed right over it and up into the air. Arms waving in attempt to balance, he felt a hand on his shoulder steady him. Kakashi was his savior, well at least his savior from dew. The fire Sasuke had produced heated the surrounding area enough for the frost on the grass to melt into dew, creating a slick surface for clumsy ninjas like Naruto to fall on.

* * *

Naruto was still eating his fish off the stick it was cooked on while Bibi and Laura were fencing with their barren skewers. Sasuke was unreadable as always and Vivian was finishing the remnants of her fishy breakfast. 

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do today" Inquired Sakura, always wanting to know the plan of action ahead of time, and happy that they were on this trip because otherwise they'd all be waiting for him to show up.

"You, Sasuke, and Naruto are going to work on taijutsu while I test the girls." He had once again eaten his fish in remarkable time without anyone ever getting a glimpse of his face. Heck, at the rate he downed food, it wouldn't be surprising if he suffered from severe heart burn or died from food being caught in his throat.

Sasuke tossed his stick over his shoulder as he stood up. "Come on Naruto, Sakura, there's a clearing a couple of yards away where we can practice." Sakura got up and stretched lethargically. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress and followed along after him. Naruto followed while finishing his fish off of the stick and he too threw it behind him, his back to the campfire where everyone else was still sitting. The stick flew through the air, heading towards the fire where it would become a source of energy for its slowly dying embers. Vivian's hand snatched it midair before it could be swallowed and engulfed by the flames.

"Nice catch" said a masculine voice, obviously Kakashi's.

"Thanks, we ready to go?"

"Hai, follow me."

He walked off with his trademark posture, a slight slouch, one hand shoved into his pocket, and one had cradling his orange bound prized possession of a book.

Bibi, Vivian, and Laura hung back, putting some distance between themselves and Kakashi, wanting to have a sense of privacy when they talked even if he could plainly hear what they were saying. It was just one of those inexplicable things people unconsciously do.

"What do you think he's going to make us do, and for that matter what kind of a test is this going to be?" Vivian was stressing slightly over their pending ordeal.

Bibi shrugged. Who knew what them man has up his sleeves? After all, there was nothing said in the manga or anime show about this, so their knowledge of the future of Naruto was currently useless.

"Well, we know right off the bat that he's not going to make us do any jutsus or anything with chakra molding since it hasn't been taught to us yet. We will most likely do taijutsu stuff since it's pretty much the only thing we're capable of" interjected Laura while she pulled her hair back into a braid with deft hands and practiced ease. Light shone down through the mesh of leaves from the trees above, making the top of her hair shine a golden hue until she walked under the shadows.

"Well you know how to dwarf our abilities while still trying to ease our minds, which by the way, you didn't help at all, though what you said does make sense. I just hope he doesn't pull that thousand years of pain thing on one of us" said Vivian. The three shuddered simultaneously but followed their actions up with a smile and a laugh, remembering how much fun they had when watching Naruto at Laura's house on her computer. Unbeknown to them, Kakashi was listening and smirked underneath his mask at the mention of the move he pulled on Naruto during the bell test. _That is one move that Naruto will never forget. _

Kakashi stopped abruptly. He tucked his book into one of the pouches on his vest and made sure that the snap secured it. His eyes scanned their surroundings. Trees were staggered in a semi-circle, perfect for targets that the girls could later practice throwing kunais and spinning stars at. The ground was slightly uneven and had some scraggy rocks sporadically placed upon it. It would do nicely for his purposes and the distance from Konoha was enough for them to not be disturbed, but close enough for them to quickly get back inside the gates of the village if something were to arise.

He turned to face his pupils. Vivian was looking up through the thin mask of trees to the endless blue sky as clouds lazily drifted on an unseen river of air. Laura stood staring back at him with her arms crossed under her chest, waiting for him to take the initiative and say something. Her eyebrow quirked up as he continued to hold her gaze, he was steadfast in his intent at analyzing the trio before he began. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes at him. Bibi was running a hand through her layered hair causing it to cascade down from her fingertips and frame her face as she shifted her weight from one foot to another. She scanned the area, mapping its features and coordinates on mental blueprints.

He had decided who his first target would be.

"Bibi, come at me with the intent to kill." His eyes were blank as if he said something that would be considered normal thoughtless conversation such as 'hello, how are you doing today?'

She stood still, her eyes watered slightly and something triggered a mental relay.

FLASHBACK

A man in his late twenties, possibly older with a stone hardened and leather rough looking face devoid of laugh lines stood before her. His fiery red orange hair was the only prominent color in the room that was barren save the man and some blue mats piled in a corner. His jaw was locked and face set stern, but the freckles splayed across the bridge of his nose and his cheeks helped to soften his look. Emerald green eyes shone of a fierce inner strength while his muscled arms and toned body told of outer strength. The white terrycloth robe and pants he wore looked incongruous as he stood with a straight back and a chin held high as he as he spoke.

"Come at me with the intent to kill."

He paused not hearing a response.

"Don't make me repeat an order twice."

His baritone voice held an edge to it that was hard to place but could make even the most seasoned soldier cower in their combat boots.

END FLASHBACK

* * *

A brief message from the beta………. 

Well, chapter nine is beta-ed (I'm not sure if that's a word, so I'll just claim it is and go along with it.), several earlier chapters will also be beta-ed when my classes give lower levels of HW (AP exams in May!)

Well, as you know, I'm the new beta, but I've been listening to this story unfold for some time, in the hallways…on the phone…in between plot bunnies…I've even dropped in some ideas and poked fun at appropriate intervals. This story is a constant work in progress...and then it reaches me and my homework overload and the whole system backs until I finally get time, or the "frozen fan girls" print out the latest chapter from me to beta during school. (I get the feeling delays will be mostly my fault in the future.) But I pledge to beta to the best of my abilities (chakra, not charka, girls.) and not go golfing on a rooftop during a hurricane.

This is the spear chucker beta signing off….


	10. Try it again

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. We did not invent combat boots, and we can not be blamed for using the word charka instead of chakra because Word automatically corrects it…grrrrrr. The fighting dances belong to Robert Jordan and his wheel of time series, though we might have altered them slightly.

**Note: HAS NOT BEEN BETA READ YET, but polished version will be out soon. **We just feel bad that it's been over a month since we've updated, and on another note, chapter 11 is almost done.

**Chapter 10**

Laura poked Bibi lightly in the side, worrying for her friend who failed to respond when Kakashi called her name three times. Bibi's arm came up reflexively and hit Laura's hand. Her eyes widened, "Laura, I'm sorry, I guess I'm still tired from our hike yesterday and I didn't even realize that I hit you."

Laura smiled, a symbol of accepted apology.

"I just saw that you had it in you to attack, so don't argue otherwise. Now attack."

"But I don't want to attack you," she pleaded.

Kakashi had to refrain from sighing out loud. This was going to be troublesome, and he hoped to God that they weren't all going to be this stubborn. Laura and Vivian inching their way away from Bibi caught his eye because they were in a sense offering her up and leaving her open for an attack if needed. 

Bibi's face took on a dazed expression as her thoughts went back to the memory that was so foreign to her about the red haired man.

"Konoha to Bibi, come at me with the intent to kill." He saw her hesitate. In less than the blink of an eye, he appeared before her like magic and poked her in the side. This was the only way he'd seen her react violently. Out of reflex, she put up a hand to block it, but missed. He poked her in both sides this time.

He could tell that she was trying to not show a reaction and he was tiring quickly of her attitude towards the training.

"You know Bibi, if you never at least try to attack me, then there is no possible way for me to see what your skills and reactions are, hence I would have an incomplete evaluation of your abilities, and I would be forced to deem you incompetent. Then I would tell the Hokage to not even bother with you because you aren't worth the effort to train."

His expression never changed as hey was discretely laying out the paths that she had to choose from.

One path was to stand still and give up any chance of being a kunochi. It would be an easy well worn path to walk that would ultimately lead to the life of a civilian, which didn't sound too terrible in itself. She wasn't particularly overjoyed with the thought of fighting; she was more of a strategy behind the scenes gal anyways.

The other divergent path was more like a road up a mountain with possible avalanches and unsure precarious footing the whole way to the top, but if she knew she wouldn't walk this path alone. Vivian and Laura would chose to be ninjas regardless of what anyone would say or do. They were confident in their knowledge of the characters, or more accurately, the people of Konoha and various other surrounding villages from their hours spent watching Naruto. Sure, she seen the first ten episodes and some random ones here and there, but Vivian had seen more that she had, and Laura, well she was plain obsessed.

Bibi waged an inner war for a few more milliseconds, then came to the realization that she was really on a one way road all along and the fork in her road was nothing more than a mirage in the desert. She knew what she had to do.

She swung at his head, but he side stepped it with ease. She aimed a kick for his shins, but faked and aimed for his side. He saw it coming and caught her foot. She figured that this was the perfect opening, with one of his hands full, she could attack and hit. She tried to punch his stomach, but he twisted her foot and she was on the ground with a thump before she knew it.

He moved as a fluid almost invisible blur to her and as she felt someone poker her side, she looked up and he was already standing before her.

_His movements seem to be faster than what my brain can process, but if I can figure out the speed at which he's moving, then I can figure out how to react and counter attack. I know that I should try processing what's happening at a faster rate since I normally just keep the pace an average human does, but I can speed up my thought process enough and hopefully I can get my brain so send impulses faster so that I can also react quicker. _

"Try that again." She asked of him.

This time his actions were visible blurs as she concentrated on not avoiding the blow, but being hit by it so that she could configure the rate and speed at which he was moving. She felt a hand come in contact with her arm and poke it, then he was standing still beside her.

"Again." This time it was a demanded.

She now had an idea of how fast he was currently moving so she could possible be able to adjust her focus to see his movements since she had an estimate of what she was looking for.

He came at her with ribbon like movements, that she could fully comprehend.

_Now if only I can avoid the hit when it comes._

poke she was hit again.

_I have to use more stamina to increase the force at which I move and increase the rate at which I move. _

"Once more" it sounded more like a frustrated plea than anything else.

She could see by his movements and an estimated trajectory in her head that he was going to aim for her arm again. As she saw him closing in on her, she willed her body with all her might to jump out of the way as her muscles never even seemed to receive the message. She tensed, but also saw that she managed to move just slightly enough in order to avoid his teasing finger. He stood back, pleasantly surprised that she had evaded his hand. She closed her eyes, slowing down her mental processes back to normal, the over taxing of her brain was like a CPU without a cooling system.

A strong steady wind came out of the south west, detaching twigs and leaves alike from their parent trees. A mixture of dirt and sand was swept across their training ground as twigs were carried in pouches of high pressure air like a mother kangaroo would carry her joey. Leaves twirled and danced like sugar plum faeries as Bibi kept her eyes closed and took a deep breath. Kakashi thought this would a good moment to catch her off guard, though she was already a step ahead.

She knew he would think of it as an opening and go for it, but she was already prepared. She stood still, perfectly calm and collected as Kakashi rushed at her. She felt the breeze of him as he went past, but he didn't land a hit.

"Hm, I thought that the first time I missed was a fluke, but I see that you figured out how to move fast enough to dodge my attack."

"Actually, I didn't doge this last time."

"What do you mean," he asked as he wracked his brain for a possible explanation that she could posess.

"I didn't need to move because you were only attacking with one finger aimed for my arm and you came at me with the same force, speed, and direction as before when there was no wind. Since I knew you weren't even close to going all out, you wouldn't realize the slight movement of the wind and your position and re-correct your angle of attack."

"But that doesn't explain how you knew I would miss."

"It's quite simple really, I used vectors and the law of cosine along with the fact that the wind was coming from the south west and your speed and force that I discovered before when I let you poke me to determine that the wind would push you off course just enough to miss my arm if I stood still."

He scratched the back of his head, somewhat dumbfounded from her mathematical explanation, though he mentally noted her math skills and potential in taijutsu and decided to move onto his next victim.

"You did good Bibi, but I think that's enough for you today."

"I want to go next," said Laura as she stepped forward and assumed a fighting stance similar to the one used by Bibi.

"Hm, no. Vivian's next."

Laura dejectedly sat down on a rock to watch Vivian's training while mumbling about ungrateful gray haired pirate.

"Vivian, try to attack me however you want."

"……." She looked at him and focused on steadying her breathing. She was nervous as heck because even though she knew he wouldn't hurt her, she knew all that he was capable of and that the rest of her time in Konoha depended on her performance today.

"Any time now."

"Don't rush, geeze. You're one to speak about doing anything in a timely manner, you'd be late to your own funeral."

He took out his book. Yep, every day they were giving him more reasons to add to the list of how they were different than his original team. For one, any other ninja would jump at the chance to spar with him, and even Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke wanted a piece of him when he first tested them, yet here he was, reading his book.

"You know, if you'd like we could break for an early lunch. I have a ham and cheese sandwich waiting for me back at camp."

Now he'd done it, he mentioned the evil dairy product.

She blindly started kicking at him, some aimed for his stomach, some for his sides, and some for his shoulders which was as high up as her leg could reach. She wasn't half bad with her stance, though she needed to work on speed and force.

"Go Vivian!" cheered Laura.

"Use your Capoeira skills!" shouted Bibi.

He blocked her onslaught of kicks with one hand and those he either couldn't reach or was just too lazy to block, he twisted slightly to avoid.

She added in a few kick and punch combos. Brazillian martial arts seemed to be coming in handy.

Her hair went in every which way in a failed attempt to keep up with the movements of her body. Small beads of sweat collected on her upper lip and brows as she continued her routines.

After twenty minutes, he could tell she was reaching the end of her energy as her breaths became heavier and faster whereas her kicks became sluggish. 

"That's good, take a minute to catch your breath and then I want to test you in one more thing."

She nodded and grabbed a water bottle out of her backpack and drained half of it. She looked at Bibi, leaned up against a tree with her backpack on the ground beside her. She stowed the bottle back in her bag and zipped it shut again. She turned to her left to see Laura sitting on a somewhat flat rock, her hand held up to her forehead shading her eyes and her backpack still on her back.

"Vivian, take out the pouch that I gave you with the kunais in it and put it on." Kakashi still stood in the center of the clearing like he was a statue, just waiting for birds to land on him.

"Where am I supposed to put it since I don't have pants like yours?"

"I'm sure you'll come up with something," and he pointed to her legs.

She looked down at her attire. Shorts with no pockets, and a fake gun holster on both thighs secured with a clip and straps going up the side of her legs attached to a belt like device. Duh, those would work. She had forgotten about the fake gun holsters, and they were close to the size of the pouch and they also had snaps to keep them closed since she had made them really to store snacks and stuff in. She filled both of them, and kept one out.

Kakashi took out one of his own and threw it at a tree, hitting the center with deadly accuracy and causing the bark to give and crack around it.

"Hit it," was all he commanded of her.

I can do this, I can do this.

She flung the kunai and it disappeared into the trees somewhere and then they heard the startled squawking of birds as they saw a cloud of disturbed flapping creatures rising over the tree line.

Bibi let out something between a laugh and a snort as Laura covered her mouth with both hands, trying to force a laugh down her throat.

another part of the forest where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are training

Naruto and Sasuke collapsed on the ground, breathless and bleeding in various places. Naruto wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Why don't we go spy on Kakashi-sensei and the girls to see what they are up to."

"That's a stupid idea Naruto," huffed Sakura.

"He actually has a point," pointed out Sasuke.

"He does?"

"I do?"

"Yeah, if we go spy on them, we can see exactly how good they are and if Kakashi is treating them differently than he did when he tested us."

The trio walked in agreed silence so that they wouldn't be detected. 

Sasuke signaled to some bushes that would provide ample covering for them, but weren't thick enough as to obscure their vision through them. Naruto stuck his head far enough into the bush to look like he was going to inhale some leaves or possibly come out the other side. 

Naruto started to lose his balance and in his decent through the bush, a kunai was flung at him, and if it hadn't been for Sasuke grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him to safety, he would have incurred a nasty gash.

"I'm going to end up with a kunai in every place but in that darn tree at this rate," said a rather deflated Vivian. Sure, she'd only thrown a grand total of 5 kunais so far, but they make it look so much easier on the show. 

"I'd say that you had pretty good aim on that one." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. That would teach his students a lesson on spying. He'd have been surprised if both Bibi and Laura didn't notice them because they were making enough racket to wake the dead, except Vivian seemed to be oblivious to them. _She must be too tense and frustrated. _

Kakashi watched as she raised her arm in preparation for throwing, and he mentally slapped his forehead. How could he have not noticed it? It was painstakingly obvious.

He stopped mentally berating himself and strode up to her, raising up his hand. She saw it and cringed, shutting her eyes tight, and stiffening.

flashback

She threw a knife, but it missed the stuffed dummies with the vibrant red targets painted onto them. The man with fiery red hair came up to her, raised his hand, and paused. She looked up to him, craning her neck as far back as she could to see him towering over her. His gazed was directed at the mirrors on the one wall, the only things not white aside from the targets in the entire room. His mouth was set in a line of determination, frustration, and indecision. He looked down at her and met her innocent curious large eyes as she smiled.

Then he slapped her in the face in a swift movement. Her gleaming smile disappeared the instant he laid his hand on her cheek and caused her to crash to the laminate waxed floor. Tears pricked her eyes and she begun to sniffle, her cheek stung like a thousand needles and turned red. The outline of his hand was distinct where he had hit her and would surely leave a colorful bruise even if she got ice on it right away, but the ice would never come from anyone here. He walked past her to retrieve the fallen knife, and as he passed, she thought she heard a mumbled sorry, but no sooner did her mind register it, then he was barking out criticism and orders to throw the knife again, and she had better not miss it this time.

end flashback

She was afraid that he was going to hit her, and it was clearly written all over her face. Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of it, because he'd only seen that look on helpless people that were abused and scared at some point in their lives. What was this girl hiding?

He smiled at her and put his hand over hers that held the kunai, adjusting her grip on the weapon.

"There you go, you should be able to aim better if you hold it this way."

"Thanks Kakashi."

_Picture the target_. It glowed red in her mind as she imagined herself walking up to it and feeling the cold metal of the weapon in the tree. Her mind flashed and she was mentally looking at the target from where she was physically standing.

She threw the kunai, holding her breath, her veins pulsing with hope and nervous anticipation. Time seemed to drag before she heard a soft clang. The telltale sound of metal hitting metal. She opened her eyes, not believing the reverberating sound. Her grin spread a mile wide.

"I did it, I did it." ehhhhhhh she squealed while jumping up and down.

"Hai, you did it, now try two. Oh by the way, are you ambidextrous?"

"Um….not really."

"Well, you're going to learn, starting now. Take one in your right hand, and one in your left hand."

_I can do this, I can do this. Who am I kidding. I remember trying to throw a ball with my left hand, and that was horrible. It hit the ground maybe three feet from where I was standing and I almost hit my physical education coach who was standing to the right of me. The coach gave an exasperated sigh, I guess he was used to near misses, though I could tell they weren't appreciated. I was always embarrassed by my attempt, so I never tried to do much with my left hand. Well, maybe I've gotten better._

She closed here eyes again and threw the two kunais. By gods, let this work. Clang. Okay, where's the other one. Clang. That's it, it must be. I managed to get them both to hit the target. She looked towards the tree, seeing his duller kunai accompanied by two of hers. One from before, one from now, but what happened to the other one she threw?

Her view panned to the right, where Laura was sitting on the rock, with her gaze straight forward, and right arm raised, holding up a sword. She then looked down, to where the lost kunai laid by Laura's feet, and suddenly, it wasn't so lost anymore. She laughed nervously, realizing that if Laura had been any slower with her sword, she would have been injured. _Wait….since when did Laura have a sword?_

"Could you warn me next time you are going to try to kill me with a kunai? Remember, we're allies here." Her mouth turned up in a smile as she stood up and stuck the sword into the ground so it stood up on its own. Her back was sweating from having the pack against it all morning. She felt a breeze sweep across her back and upper arms and roll across her sticky skin.

Before Vivian could apologize, Kakashi spoke up. "Oh, I was wondering when you guys were going to take out your special weapons."

Somewhere, off in a not too distant land, Orochimaru gazed into the hazy crystal ball with his sights set on the new trainees of Konoha. His freakish tongue skimmed along his lower lip in a show of excitement and anticipation. Unbeknown to him, Kisame was spying on the spymaster himself, ordered to report back to Uchiha Itachi with his findings.


	11. Flying Woodchip

**Disclaimer:** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. We did not invent combat boots, and we can not be blamed for using the word charka instead of chakra because Word automatically corrects it…grrrrrr. The fighting dances belong to Robert Jordan and his wheel of time series, though we might have altered them slightly. We also don't own the thoughts of meditating to control power, those belong to Tamora Pierce. Some of the sword techniques are also based on the Kendo style, we did not create it, merely researched it and used it in our story.

**HAS NOT BEEN BETA READ YET**

**Chapter 11**

"Let me see your sword."

She looked down at it in her hands. This wasn't the sword she had at the convention. The one she had bought was plastic, light, and had a cheap fake hilt. This was sharp, heavier, longer, and had an engraved intricate design in its hilt.

She handed it over to Kakashi. His hand touched hers, and she quickly relinquished her grip on the sword and looked down.

"Hmm. Nicely shaped hilt. Good weight, though it's a little on the light side which will make it weak and flimsy."

He swung it at a tree and it cut straight through like a hot knife through butter.

"Amazing strength and sharpness, even in spite of its weight. I'm surprised." He held it to her side. "It's even the right length for you."

He twisted it around, making sure to take in every minute detail that this piece of art beheld.

"It must have cost a fortune, when did you get this?" He semi-answered his own question while he continued to think aloud. "You couldn't have gotten it here because I don't know a craftsman this talented and I don't think we even possess the alloys necessary to make such a lightweight and durable blade. The hilt shows much care, precision, and time needed to craft such a delicate thing."

_You'd think it was a rare diamond by the way he holds it and drinks in its details. _

"I got it back home." She knew he understood that 'home' meant back on her planet earth; but, what she didn't know was why she felt compelled to keep the fact that the sword had changed a secret.

She took a stance, knees slightly bent, feet shoulder's width apart, right arm poised with sword in hand, pointed at Kakashi. Kakashi took out two kunais.

"But it's not fair for me to fight you if you don't also have a sword."

"Fights are hardly ever fair, and the guys you're fighting won't care if your weapons aren't matched. I have my two kunais, and it's all I need."

"Whatever you say Kakashi."

"Now that's the right attitude. Just remember, I'm always right."

_What an egotistical megalomaniac. _

She swung at him.

He side stepped.

"You are leaving yourself too open, and are too slow at swinging, you need to tilt the blade so it is more aerodynamic and has less drag and resistance when cutting through the air."

She spun the sword around, whirling it to get more of a feel of its weight and movements. She lunged at him. He jumped back.

"Better," he said, "but don't just strike once and recoil, you'll never get anywhere with that."

She nodded and exhaled.

She tried to strike right, but missed. She then went for the left. She missed again. _What was the point of this, for him to dance around my sword?_

"You need more feeling, passion, force, resolve. Otherwise you're just swinging your flashy sword for show and nothing more… But if you want to just swing, then swing this way so that I get more air movement." He made a fanning motion with his hand.

_He wants me to fan him like he's some kind of god?_ Oh yes, she was ready to decapitate him.

Fake right, swing left, pull back, and lunge. He blocked her blade with his one kunai.

"There we go, that's better, but you'll still never hit me or even give me a good challenge." Oh yes, he knew how to pique her interest, and it was easy to show that his words were effecting her. _She wears her emotions on her sleeves, a bad trait that she needs to grow out of. _

She started recklessly swinging at him. He didn't even bother to block her poor attempts.

"I said passion and force, not blind rage." He sighed and lowered his kunai.

_Here's my chance, he's open. _

She swung and twirled, an up cut followed by a downward diagonal slash. Meeting his parrying kunais that were reflecting her blade off of them. She put strength behind her attack, pushing him back a step, and letting herself smile. Even if she knew he could defeat her in a New York minute, she wasn't doing too badly now.

She felt the cool nip of metal at her throat and the warmth of his body pressing against her back.

"You did well, in fact, better than I had expected. You pretended to be angry and swing carelessly so that I would underestimate you and let my guard down slightly. You actually had me fooled….but don't think too highly of yourself, you are still a long ways from mastering that weapon."

Wisps of hair were lose from her braid and hanging limply on both sides of her face.

"I want to see more of how you respond to a combination of attacking and defending."

He slashed with one kunai, she blocked it, but just barely. She felt the sting of his other kunai nicking her left arm. She looked down to see blood seeping from it slightly, but it wasn't large. She then felt one on her right arm, matching the one on her left.

"You aren't paying attention and you're still leaving yourself open."

"But did you have to cut me? You never cut them!"

"You have to learn, and you can't seem to get anything through that thick head of yours unless you experience it."

His comments weren't helping her mood. Perturbed, agitated, flustered, he really knew how to put a damper on her day, a cloud over her head.

She was quickly backpedaling up to avoid his strikes, stumbling on patched of weeds and roots. She was breathing heavily through her mouth, fearing that his next attack will hit her again.

flashback

_Sweat ran down her forehead and into her eyes, blurring her vision. Her hands shook with fear and adrenaline. She was holding a short sword with both of her hands on its hilt, in the center of her body, pointed at her 'attacker'. _

_He had a long sword, at least it was longer than hers, but on him it was still classified as a short sword. He gripped it loosely with one hand. His breathing was normal, any slower and you'd think he was asleep or almost dead. Fear and nervous were words not in his dictionary. He was the essence of inner peace and control. _

"_I can't do this master." She pleaded with her quivering voice._

"_Yes you can."_

"_You're pushing too hard." Her voice raised a few decibels in volume, which was surprising for one so young and small. _

"_No, I'm pushing you to your limit, in hopes that you will be able to surpass it."_

"_You're too fast and too strong." Trying to point out the obvious unfairness._

"_Those are factors that don't matter." _

_She bit her lip._

"_Watch the muscles in my arms, the movements of my feet, the angle of my body. All of these things will show you how and where I will attack."_

end flashback

His muscles in his left arm contracted as his upper body slightly twisted. She successfully blocked it, and as the blades met, she saw his right arm muscles flinch, the next was going to be aimed at her side. She repeatedly blocked him, ending up without another scratch.

_Let's see how he can predict this. _

Her shoulders, hips, and knees were squarely aligned with both feet facing forward. Her right foot was slightly in front of the left with a flat foot, while her left heel was slightly off the floor. Knees flexed slightly, with her left hand at the base of the sword while her right hand was just below the guard. She was going to attempt the migi jodan no kamae.

Her right foot slid forward in the dirt, pushing off with her left. Lifting her sword above her head, with her left hand slightly above and in front of her forehead, tilting the blade backward at a 45 degree angle, she cut downward in a powerful swing.

He stepped aside and heard the whoosh of air beside him from the force of her movements and the sword. _That was a little too close for comfort. I should probably stop thinking of the next chapter of come come paradise._ _ How come I keep making gennin level mistakes like being distracted?_

Rip….clunk. His kunai pouch from the side of his leg fell to the ground.

"Holy shi.." Kakashi ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Any slower Kakashi, and that would have been your leg. Your reflexes are slowing down old man."

"I'll have you know that I'm not that old Laura. My silver hair can be misleading."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I almost got you."

"It was a crappy strike that left a wide gap from here to here." He touched her leg and shoulder.

"But –"

"No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I've seen much better."

"But that doesn't change the facts Kakashi."

She stood waiting, impatiently tapping her foot, hoping to hear something like "I admit that I greatly underestimated you." But she wasn't that lucky.

I thought that it was more likely for you to inflict an injury on yourself before you would even think attempting an attack such as jodan no kamae."

"I didn't think that you'd know the name of that attack Kakashi." _Heck, I'm surprised that I knew the name, let alone how to do it. I probably saw it in some action flick or anime show and mimicked it._

"I didn't think that you'd even be able to complete it when I noticed your stance and movements."

"Well then, I guess we both need to think a little more, but don't hurt yourself Hatake."

Sasuke was sitting on the ground, observing from afar, eyes narrowed in thought. _She talks like she knows him, and doesn't even use formalities when addressing him. She can even get him to say more than a few terse sentences. Why is she lying about her home supposedly on the outskirts of the village, and for that matter, why are they all in it together?_

Sakura leaned back, resting her weight more on her arms as she was now half laying in the grass_. I wonder if Bibi would help me get stronger since I'm so weak in Taijutsu. I could even benefit from training with Laura and Vivian. _

Inner Sakura was trying to be the devil on her shoulder. "Stick with Laura or Vivian, remember, you are supposed to hate Bibi for waking up with Sasuke."

Naruto salivated while staring at the bush as he licked his lips. _If I think hard enough, this bush reminds me of ramen._

"Okay, party's over, everyone out of the bushes." Kakashi picked up his kunai pouch and stowed it in one of his cargo pants.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke dejectedly trudged to the center of the clearing and gathered in a horse shoe around Kakashi.

"Make lunch, I'll oversee your efforts."

"Sleep or read that hentai book is more like it." Naruto commented under his breath.

"Who's going to be the first to volunteer?"

"I'll start. As the future hokage, I have many skills, one of which is making Ramen!" Naruto was thinking with his stomach as usual.

"It's more like your only skill," Sasuke shot at him.

Kage bunshin no jutsu.

Clones of Naruto scurried about the forest, gathering sticks and throwing them into a pile. One retrieved a pot, another a pack of noodles, and yet another brought a water bottle.

"Saskue, light me."

"Sure thing Naruto," he replied with an impish grin. He performed the hand seals, taking in a breath and holding it as the fire grew within him. He slowly let out his breath as the fire poured from his lips like a human flame thrower. Effectively lighting the fire wood, and destroying a few of Naruto's clones that were caught too close to his flame.

"Hey, why did you kill my clones you bastard?"

"You asked for it dobe."

"Naruto, it looks like your ramen is done." Bibi pointed to the bubbling and almost overflowing pot, steam swirling from it's surface. With a poof, all his clones disappeared and his entire concentration was devoted to consuming his precious lunch. They all broke out their chopsticks and Kakashi once again inhaled the food before anyone had a chance to catch a glimpse of his face.

After they had all eaten their fill, though Naruto ate enough food that it could have been used to feed an entire third world country, Kakashi stood up to assign duties like a mother would assign chores to her children.

"Sasuke and Naruto are to spar. Sakura, you are to physically train by doing 100 sit-ups, 300 kicks with each leg to that birch tree over there. Vivian, take out that bow and arrow and practice your aim and accuracy. Bibi, uh, throw the boomerang. I don't know how to train anyone in it because I don't think it's ever been used as a weapon before, but there's a first for everything. Laura, go through some practice routines with your sword that vary in attack, defense, and stance."

The sole white European birch tree towered over Sakura who decided to get the worst over with first. The forlorn tree stood in the shadows of the others. She kicked it and it stung her shin.

_Stupid tree. One hit and its outer shell cracks, another and it breaks as its only form of protection falls to the ground._

The bark gave little under legs as she forced herself to continue.

_One freaking hit after another as its defenses crumble away. It stands out like a sore thumb and is the weakest of all the birch trees and all it can do is stand there like an idiot and roll with the punches no matter how smart it thinks it is by losing its leaves in the winter._

The tree was devoid of almost all its defensive top layers as she kicked it with a vengeance. Piles of the papery shreds accumulated at her feet.

_Why are there so many weak things in this world and why am I one of them?_

Her anger flared followed by a drive to become better, to become stronger, and to become accepted in the eyes of her teammates, her sensei, and the ninja community. She channeled all her might and force into her leg as she kicked it for the 300th kick, the last kick.

Crunch, crack.

The tree was indented to its' center where she had kicked it had spider like cracks adorning it's surface.

_Oh god, what did this tree ever do to me to deserve that kind of punishment. It's now crippled, grotesquely deformed, and more frail than ever_.

Sasuke was dodging or blocking everything Naruto was throwing at him. From shurikens to punches. It was of no challenge to him.

_How can I get stronger to defeat Itachi if I never have to push or strain to defend myself. This is getting me nowhere. _

"Ha, I've got you now Sasuke, give up before you get hurt." Naruto could almost taste the victory that he longed for over Sasuke.

"You're pathetic."

"Huh!"

thwap. Phump. Sasuke hit Naruto on his back, then ran in front of him and punched him in the stomach. The blond doubled over, the wind knocked out of him.

"Baka."

"Itaiiiiii! What was that for Sasuke?"

Uchiha ignored the question and turned to look at Kakashi, with a bored scorning expressing. "There's no point to this Kakashi. I'll never get any better if I have to train with dead-last."

"Sasuke, you push him, then he pushes you. If it has to be pointed out to you, then you're the Uchiha Genius everyone says you are."

The sword twirled as her mind strained to piece together practice techniques and footwork. Concentrating too much on evoking the moves to relax into a steady rhythm. Choppy movements halted altogether as she shook her head in dismay and frustration, sending her braid swooshing from shoulder to shoulder and wisps of hair still clinging to her face and neck, laden with sweat.

She put the sword back into the sheath built in to her backpack only to forcefully whip it out, striking a tree as it was drawn.

_What nerve, and he calls himself a special jounin. _

Bibi pulled out her boomerang, placed her thumb on the dot in the center and wrapped her hand around it as she throws it, aiming for Kakashi's head. It spun through the air with the grace of a gazelle, saying it was like a swan would be too cliché. He stood unaware, though he probably sensed it coming and was too lazy to move his ex-ANBU behind out of the way, and coming, and coming. It went right past him and started to go into an arc, being pulled to it's thrower by physics…well, we won't go into that.

_Oh no. _

Before she could give warning, it skimmed over naruto's head, hitting his hair and causing it to fall from it's spiked position.

"Gahhhhhh!" Naruto screeched in surprise.

She saw her own weapon, heading for a collision course with herself. Granted it's a boomerang and should go back to the thrower, it still doesn't make one prepared for a projectile flying at them. She ducked, but put her hand up in hopes of catching it with eyes closed and a hand over them.

Thwap, thunk.

It had hit her hand, but she didn't catch it, so it fell straight down. Straight onto her head.

_Damn boomerang. Oh well, I guess I'll have to try it again.   
_

Before she could throw it again, Naruto's berating voice broke through the calm of her mind.

"Watch where you're throwing that, you have horrible aim and a good for nothing weapon which is an oversized woodchip." He was still irked at being attacked...again.

She took a deep breath, and with boomerang in hand, casually strode up to Naruto, who had stopped his sparing with Sasuke once he had a near miss with her flying wood chip.

She rapped him on the head with her boomerang.

"What was that?"

"You just got run over by a woodchip."

Sasuke smirked. _This was another girl to keep Naruto in line. She would get along well with Sakura, who can throw a mean right hook with Naruto on the receiving end._

"Idiot."

Naruto glared at Sasuke for his unwanted comment.

Even though she normally had the patience of a saint, today was not one of those days.

Vivian held her bow in her left hand with her right eye on her target. Her left shoulder faced the target she had etched into a tree with her kunai. She loaded the bow by pointing it toward the ground and placing the shaft of the arrow on an arrow rest attached to the bow. She then pulled the bowstring and placed it into the notch at the back of the arrow. She raised it and drew the arrow back. She drew her right hand towards her face and released her arrow. In a fluid motion, it hit the right tree, but not the target she was aiming for. Her parents had her take archery during the summer after 9th grade, and for that, she was eternally grateful. It seemed the bow and arrow were causing her less trouble than Laura was having remembering sword moves, or Bibi was having with controlling her boomerang.

"Kisame, in your return to me, I expect that your little mission was a success. What have you to tell me?"

The sharingan gaze was almost too heavy to bear even after his years of knowing Itachi. It was unnerving, knowing that at any moment in the blink of an eye, he could paralyze him in an endless time of torture as he had seen done to others in their journeys before.

Kisame took his Samehada, sharkskin blade that could absorb chakra, and put its point in the ground, leaning on it like a cane.

"Orochimaru is quickly gaining power, and has minions all over his complex. I know he has something in the works."

"Yes, yes, we all know that Kisame. Get to the point."

"He mentioned that there is someone who knows the future and is newly placed on Kakashi Hatake's gennin team. He wants to capture this person for his own purpose of gaining power and so on."

"If Orochimaru wants him – "

"It's a her."

"then we must get to **her** first."

"Why don't we take the fox demon at the same time Itachi?"

"The boy has yet to discover his inner demon, so he'd be of no use to the Akatsuki yet. Plus, it gives me a chance to check up on my brother and see how his plan of killing me is coming." Itachi gave a throaty laugh and sternly stared at Kisame when he attempted to join in.


	12. Stealth

** Disclaimer: ** We do not own any of the Naruto characters, or any other characters and copyright entities mentioned in this story. We do own Vivian, Bibi, and Laura, this plot line, and all the books carried in their backpacks. UFOa is also copyrighted by us, the authors, along with anything to do with it or its members. We don't own or mean to offend the Amish or any manufacturers of diary products. We also didn't invent the triangle or any proofs related to it and we did not invent light sabers or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whew, this disclaimer is going to be a page long by the completion of this story. We also don't own physics or the weather, though I wish I did have power over the whole weather thing. We did not invent combat boots, and we can not be blamed for using the word charka instead of chakra because Word automatically corrects it…grrrrrr. The fighting dances belong to Robert Jordan and his wheel of time series, though we might have altered them slightly. We also don't own the thoughts of meditating to control power, those belong to Tamora Pierce. Some of the sword techniques are also based on the Kendo style, we did not create it, merely researched it and used it in our story. We don't own Angelina Jolie, or much else.

** IT HAS FINALLY BEEN BETA-READ. **hugs beta for finally earning her keep

** Chapter 12 **

The next day

"Today is our last day on this camping trip, and I have a final group test for you."

"Oye, another one Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto groaned and whined.

"Hai Naruto, and this time, it's a test on stealth. I have two bells again," he tossed them into the air and threw a kunai at them, pinning them to a tree. "Since its 7:00 , you have till 1:00 ."

"But why only two bells, shouldn't there be five?" Sakura looked as if her world were being turned upside-down.

"I have my reasons for only using two bells." The mysterious jounin refused to shed light onto his test.

"Are you going to be standing watch by them?" Bibi was trying to piece together what she knew of Kakashi from the show to figure out why he was taking this strange approach.

"Hm..oh, maybe." Kakashi was distracted by his book that had popped up out of nowhere.

Laura took out her ipod and speakers. It had white casing and a silvery back that was engraved with her name and sweet 16. She slid over the button unlocking it, held down the button to turn it on and rolled her pointer finger around in circles, the ipod producing a clicking sound. She found the song she wanted and smiled as the mission impossible theme song started to play.

"Okay, I'm ready to start."

"The music will cover your movement and that would screw up the whole point of testing your stealth, baka." Sasuke thought that her reasoning was almost as bad as Naruto's.

"It's mood music," Vivian pointed out.

"I'll have to say that it is rather fitting considering that it's the soundtrack from Mission Impossible." Bibi figured she might as well put in her own two cents about the music since everyone else seemed to be doing so. She shifted her weight from one foot to another and crossed her arms, this debate was getting them nowhere, but it did giver her some more time to concoct a plan.

" Mission impossible? Was it unranked?" The mention of an unranked mission aroused the curiosity of Naruto.

"I'd also like to hear the mission details and objectives." Kakashi turned the page, his eye scanning it with a blasé expression.

"Ah, it was just a movie." Laura shrugged her shoulders.

"Ohh." Sakura's mouth made an o shape.

"I could get into this music." Naruto started to moon walk and 'groove' in a way only he could.

"You look even more like an idiot now dead-last."

Naruto fell over with his legs in the air twitching in front of Sasuke, the whole scene appearing very anime like.

The music abruptly stopped as the screen of the ipod flashed low battery.

Laura picked up the dying piece of technology as if it would crumble to pieces and slipped it carefully into her bag. "Rats, I didn't charge the batteries."

"Ahem." Kakashi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "The clock is ticking." He pointed his gloved hand to an alarm clock that he must have put on the rock when they were all talking about the ipod.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all leaped up into the trees, leaving the three other girls and Kakashi on the ground.

"What are you waiting for?" He peered over his book to look at them.

"Um, we always wondered how you guys did that whole jump thing because at ah, home, we can only jump a maximum of six feet when we're lucky." Laura had a look on her face that was just pleading for an explanation. Her eyes were slightly wider than normal and her lips had a small part in them. She nervously danced from foot to foot under his scrutinizing eye. Vivian and Bibi had their heads turned up looking toward the trees. Vivian was trying to figure out if she would fall attempting to jump up and Bibi was pondering the physics behind the tree jumping.

"You just jump, and don't look down because otherwise you might hit a tree. It's easy to do and even kids like Konohamaru can accomplish it without much thought."

"So, you just jump, no moon shoes, no up, up, and away?" It seemed far too easy for Vivian to grasp.

"Bend knees, push off." _How do people get around from where they're from?_

Bibi was still looking at him like he had grown another head, or dare he say it, taken off his mask. _Oh , that's right, they're visual learners,_ Kakashi thought sarcastically.

He sped to behind Laura, wrapped an arm around her waist, bent his knees, and jumped up. She latched on to his arm, trying to grip onto something as fear wrapped around her like a cocoon. He landed like a cat, and whispered in her ear. "I would never let you fall." She stood there, right hand holding a branch, left still on his arm. She cast her glance down to Bibi and Vivian and released his arm to wave to them.

They both jumped up the tree and looked down at the branch they stood on, thinking it might vanish if they didn't keep their eye on it.

He stayed only long enough to be assured that they were all safely in the tree and then he was gone with a poof.

Soon, they had the 'hang' of jumping through the foliage like tree frogs or even monkeys.

* * *

Kakashi stood behind the tree with the bells attached to it. He had this itching sense, a sort of intuition honed by ANBU, that someone was watching, and with more stealth than any of his students could hope to muster in the years to come. And that chakra, mostly concealed, but enough was let to seep through so that Kakashi would be constantly on edge looking over his back. Whoever it was, was very good, and that could only mean a few people. He had hoped to get all the girls into the trees, but as soon as he got down after depositing Laura on a branch, the chakra signature was gone. Its rapid disappearance only made him more nervous.

* * *

Sasuke lurked behind a large rock grouping, watching as Laura, Vivian, and Bibi bound from branch to branch aimlessly. He thought that he saw a flash of a person and the glint off something shiny, but it was probably Kakashi, he reasoned. Now the concept of stealth was attractive and a must for his plans of killing his brother, but what was the point of the two bells. Was it to pick out the two best and make it so that the rest looked up to them, respected them, but still considered them an outcast? Was it all psychological or just plain psycho? And how was he going to get his hands on one of those bells? No matter what his plan, he was going to have to use the sharingan.

* * *

Naruto used chakra to climb to the top of a tree that overlooked the position of the bells. He figured that's he'd have a chance of getting the bells if someone approached them first and distracted Kakashi as he fought them off. He had to get a bell this time, and it would make his day if he got the first one before Sasuke. His hands formed fists as he clenched and unclenched them, creating half moon impressions on his skin from his nails digging into the soft flesh of his palm.

* * *

Sakura came up close to the trees surrounding the prize one with the bells. She created a simple genjutsu to counter the one that Kakashi must have put on the tree.

Sasuke saw her doing this since he had activated his sharingan. He was going to use her opening and take it himself. He was faster than she was anyways.

Naruto didn't take notice of either of his teammates and charged in with a few clones by his side. His charged in, throwing kunais all around himself as a shield as he tried to retrieve the bell. He reached for it, but grabbed thin air. That was when he knew it was an illusion.

"Damn it."

Sasuke never saw Naruto go for the tree in the genjutsu since his eyes were focused on the real bells. He attached wire to shurikens with nimble fingers, laying a trap for anyone who came too close to his claimed position in the tree and by the bells. He jumped towards the bells from his position in a neighboring tree while Naruto came from the other side. His foot caught on one of Sauske's lines, causing him to trip and collide with a surprised Sasuke.

"Watch it dobe," Sasuke snapped gruffly.

"Stop going for my bell bastard."

Kakashi watched from a distance, he had thought about intercepting both of them and fending off the bells, but they seemed to be caught up in their own fight. He leaned back against the tree, its trunk cradling his back as his legs stretched out on a limb.

_ This is physically easier than ANBU was, but almost more mentally taxing and it tests my patience. Sometimes I wonder how they passed my initial test, but I'm proud of them none the less. When are they going to learn the meaning of stealth? I can see them on a mission, tied up and getting laughed at by some goons because they started to bicker about who would get to carry the rescued artifact home. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision to submit their names for the chuunin exam, but then something always comes up and they prove themselves to me and I realize that they all have great potential. _

He rolled up his sleeves, the heat starting to seep through to his bones. He knew that Sakura had already dissipated his simple genjutsu, at least for her eyes, and he also knew that Sasuke had used his sharingan to see through it. Naruto was the only one to experience it first hand. So far, the stealth factor has been non-existent, but Sakura hadn't gotten the chance to do anything yet, and neither had the other girls for that matter. Speaking of them, where had his other charges wandered off to?

* * *

"Wahoo!" Bibi let out a cheer of excitement as she rushed from one tree to the next, the air running its invisible fingers through her hair, separating it into trundles. It was an indescribable rush that couldn't be put into words understandable in any known language for someone who hadn't experienced it firsthand.

She put her fist up to her side, parallel to her shoulder, signaling for a stop. She landed with a gentle thud on the ground, followed by another two produced by Vivian and Laura. They straightened themselves up to a full upright standing position.

"Now that we're hopefully out of hearing range, let's discuss a plan." Bibi motioned for them to sit down, everyone being so diplomatic you'd assume they were discussing international relations.

"I think that we should work together to get a bell." Laura continued, keeping eye contact with them both as she laid out her mental mapping of the situation. "Statistically, the three of us working together has a higher probability of retrieving the bell, assuming that by the time we get back there's still one there for us to acquire. Plus, it would be easier to fend off and distract Kakashi and coordinate a multi-front attack with more than one person."

Bibi was amused and proud, all their late night study/tutor sessions had paid off. "We need a distraction."

"I can think of one." Vivian had a devilish smile on her and it made Laura nervous.

"Do I want to know what you have in mind Vivian?"

"Oh, I think you'd just love my idea." If it was possible, her smile grew even wider. "Here's what you're going to do. Strut, not walk, up to Kakashi. Then, make out like wild rats!" She tapped her fingers together with a devious wide smile as she rolled her eyes in one of those attempts to look like an evil insane character from a movie.

"Oh god, you just had to use that visual." Bibi fiercely rubbed her eyes, in essence, trying to erase the image conjured in her mind. That was going to be engraved in the stone of her brain for a long time.

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?" Laura's voice rang throughout the forest, startling animals and birds alike. If she had been standing, she would have tripped and fallen over. As it was, her mouth could have only gotten wider if it was unhinged from her jaw like a snake can do. To say that she was surprised was an immense understatement. Who would have thought that quiet Vivian would fashion such a plan? Certainly not Laura.

"Shhhh, Laura, keep it down." Bibi was teetering on the verge of laughter and her chocolate eyes sparkled with mirth.

"Well, you said you liked him when we were at home watching anime, and he is still a guy no matter how old he is." Vivian put out her two hands, pretending to hold the two reasons in her hands to show Laura.

"But we don't know how old he is since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are four years older compared to the anime show. That could make him **forty**!" Laura was trying her hardest to scrounge up an alternative.

"Didn't you say that you saw his face and everything when you woke up with him?" Vivian was still pushing her plan, and even had Bibi backing her.

"Well, yes."

"So, how old did he look?" Bibi was carefully prying the information, which was more like pulling teeth.

"Come to think of it, I'd say early to mid 20s, but that doesn't make sense." Laura's brows knit together in confusion.

"Well, my other plan was a preemptive strike of kunais and skurikens launched at Kakashi by Vivian while I use the wires attached to my boomerang to secure him to a tree. Vivian will keep watch with her bow and arrows from long range while I will cover with hand to hand combat when he escapes the wires. Laura will try to get the bell, and if she runs into anyone else, she will have her sword, but also has flexibility in her favor if she has to dodge attacks from Sasuke or Naruto's clones."

Vivian and Laura bobbed their heads like doggies on a dashboard in acceptance of her plan.

Laura didn't admit it to them, but she didn't altogether detest Vivian's plan for distraction.

* * *

As they were walking back from their camping trip, the sight of buildings caused Vivian to sigh in relief. She flexed her hands, trying to relieve her aching joints and pads of her fingers, unused to using her bow and arrows in quick succession. Laura leaned her head on Bibi's shoulder as Bibi's arm was slung over Laura's shoulders to support some of her weight. Her ankle hadn't appreciated when she had missed Kakashi and ended up slamming her foot into a tree.

A boy with a chuunin vest on approached Kakashi, "Hatake Kakashi, a message from the hokage."

"Thank you."

With that, the boy was already part way down the road, trying to deliver all the messages in his bag a little early so he could hang out with friends before dinner.

Kakashi slid a finger under the wax seal of the note, unfolding it to read the scribbled writing.

"Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, go on home. You guys will meet me tomorrow at the bridge at 7:00 . Sakura, thank you mother for letting the girls stay before we went on our mission. Her hospitality is no longer necessary."

Sakura nodded, and then followed after Sasuke, asking him on yet another date.

"Vivian, Laura, Bibi, we're to see the hokage about your housing at once."

* * *

They were all sitting outside the hokage's office in chairs.

"Bibi, let me see your ankle." Laura patted her lap, implying that Bibi should rest her throbbing foot on it. With gentle hands that were cool to the touch, she rubbed the inflamed ankle in circles, relieving some of the taunt muscles.

The hokage had been standing there, watching them from his doorway. "Ah, welcome back. I'm sure you're glad to be back after what I'm sure was a few challenging days worth of testing if I know Kakashi. Come in and have a seat, the chairs are far more comfortable in my office."

Kakashi held the door open for all of them to walk through. At the rate they were visiting the hokage, they might as well set up cots in his office.

"I figured that you three needed a place of your own to stay since we don't know how long you're going to be staying for. There is only one apartment open, so you'll have to share, but there should be enough room. Here is your address and an allowance for necessities." He handed over paper currency and an official document of the apartment rental. His hands showed lines and wrinkles, similar to those that adorned his face, making him seem old and frail. But they knew that his frailty was only a façade.

"I think that they should attend the jounin meeting today." Kakashi spoke to the hokage in a serious tone that he didn't normally take on.

Saratobi adjusted his paper hat.

"You are right Kakashi, and I also give you three top clearance."

"Top clearance?" The bemused Kakashi just sat there, visible eye wide and eyebrow raised.

"I have been thinking about this while you've been gone, and I believe it is best. They already know what is going to transpire, and because of that, I think they should be kept in the loop of all occurrences."

The girls heads went back and forth, like watching a ping pong match, they were merely spectators as the two men volleyed in conversation.

Bibi, hesitant to interrupt, raised her hand, unsure of how to make her statement heard.

Sarutobi's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "I apologize for not including you three; it is your lives after all. Go ahead Bibi."

"We do know many events of your future, but what we do not know is how our being here will affect the flow of time and resultant forces of nature pressed upon your world."

"I don't follow; can you explain it in more detail?" The hokage put a hand on his chin in thought, rubbing the hair on it.

"For every decision you as a person are faced with, there are an infinite number of possibilities, each with their own outcome. Each outcome either directly or indirectly affects your life and that of everyone's around you, something like a giant chain reaction or domino effect. Us just being here is most likely enough of a change to effect your world as we knew it from our home. Some events will still occur, but the conditions in which they occur in and their results may be changed. We are like a rock dropped into a perfectly calm and placid lake, and even if we do nothing more than drop in and sit at the bottom of it, we still created ripples that reached the shore on all sides of the lake."

"I understand what you mean now, but you can rest assured that I want you to do more than just sitting at the bottom of the lake. Now, as for the matter of your training, Iruka has volunteered to give you a crash course in chakra training, ways of the shinobi, foreign relations, and other related subjects that you will need to be caught up to speed on. You three are dismissed, I will have a jounin help you find your apartment and show you around."

"Thank you sir." The three bowed, remembering formalities.

After they had walked out the door and closed it shut behind them, Sarutobi got a 'down to business' expression on his face.

"What did you learn about them?"

"They are more proficient than I had anticipated with their skill of fighting and weaponry. Laura is flexible and can wield a sword to the point that it seems it is almost an extension of her arm. Vivian has some powerful kicks and has long distance accuracy with her bow and arrow. Bibi is a skilled taijutsu user and seems to be the strategist of the group and, well, she can throw her boomerang, but I still think it is a rather odd weapon."

"This is interesting, but what about the other test?"

"I had tried to test them in the elements, but something happened that I've never heard of before. I tested Bibi first, and I found no traces of any element that I know of which is unusual, but it got stranger after her. Both Vivian and Laura seemed to pull the chakra out of me, which gave me almost no reading but also strained my chakra. I didn't know what to make of them. I believe that someone more powerful and qualified should test them all over again."

"I have an idea for whom to test them in the elements, but I will have to see if I can contact them and then convince them to help. Make sure to introduce Bibi to Gai at the jounin meeting. He will train her eventually in taijutsu since you claim she is practically

a prodigy in it."

"I also wanted to let you know that while we were in the forest, we were being watched. They were discrete but purposely let out impulses of chakra when I got close enough. I tried to keep the girls away from it since I knew they were in the most danger, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared."

"Do you have any clue as to who it was?"

"My guess would be one of Orochimaru's followers. I'm not sure as to who exactly it was, but it could have been someone from another village even spying on me."

"We'll have to proceed as usual due to the lack of specifics known about this situation. Just make sure to be on the lookout and we'll have to inform all their teachers that they should be on high alert."

"Do we tell anyone else about their unique situation and background?"

"No." The hokage's rough voice barked.

"They are in danger as it is and we don't need word getting out as to their real identities."

"Yes sir."

* * *

The girls walked behind Ebisu as he pointed out random landmarks and adjusted his sunglasses. He took them up a flight of steps leading to their apartment.

"Doesn't this look familiar?" Vivian turned to question Laura.

"Yeah, but we've seen the general area once before."

"You probably saw it when Kakashi took you for your training." Ebisu reasoned. "Here is your door, I'll wait till you get in and look around before I leave, but I must talk with Naruto first, I'll be right back."

Bibi shrugged and flourished a key from her pocket. She opened the door and they all rushed in, anxious to see their new home. It was a bare apartment that could do with some decoration and feng shui.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU CLOSET PERVERT!" A nearby voice yelled.

"Didn't that sound like Naruto?" Bibi peered out their open front door and stepped out onto the torn welcome mat that she hadn't noticed when they had arrived. She looked down to the next apartment on the right of theirs. Ebisu was being shoved out with a nosebleed by a furious pigtailed girl with whisker scars on her face. Poof Naruto appeared in place of the female.

"I just want you to stay away from Konohamaru before you teach him any other perverted jutsus." Ebisu was a rather odd jounin and took great pride in training the hokage's grandson.

"Konohamaru is the one who keeps following me around closet pervert."

"Naruto?" The three girls had their heads all stuck out the door ways in height order.

"Cool, you guys are my new neighbors. Do you guys want to come over and have ramen?"

Ebisu left, taking out a handkerchief from his vest pocket and wiping the remnants of his nosebleed, mumbling about horrible jutsus that should be banned.

"I'll leave you all to Naruto, you can see me if you have any other questions."

"We'd love that Naruto." They practically ignored the departure of the jounin.

"Come on inside." He led them in, watching them as they looked around his house.

"It's not much, but I have enough to survive on."

There was a couch, bed, small kitchen, random jumpsuits, and a picture of team 7.

"I'll make up some instant ramen for all of us. Why don't you ah, sit down wherever you can find room. Sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting company."

They looked at the torn couch with his pjs on it and opted for the floor, it was probably as clean a spot as any.

He set different size and colored bowls, all chipped in places, down in front of the girls and chopsticks. "Do you guys want some milk to drink?"

"No thanks." Laura remembered the episode of Naruto when he drank the milk that had gone bad. She didn't quite trust him to throw out food after it passed the expiration date or even know if it had gone bad.

"So tell us about your past and why you live alone." Even if they knew his past from flashbacks of the anime series, nothing could replace hearing it from his own mouth. Showing their support, curiosity, and care of his feelings that he so desperately craved and his struggles to fit in.

He didn't know if it was because they were the first to ask about their past or if it was because they had never contributed to his hurting like so many others of this town, but he felt compelled to open up to them as a sort of release.

"I grew up as an orphan with no one there to love me, pack me lunch when I went off to the academy or go to family festivals with. Parents didn't want their kids near me."

_ But I don't know why. _

"I would sit alone on the swing outside the academy and watch as parents gathered up their kids and told them how proud they were."

_ It was especially hard during our graduation. _

"Iruka was the only person that seemed to care about me when I was younger. He would treat me for ramen and was really kind to me, even if he always yelled at me during school for slacking off."

_ He was the closets that thing to a saving grace that I've ever had. _

"I like to joke around, but I was always at the bottom of my academy classes no matter how hard I tried."

_ It wasn't fair to have everyone laugh at me when I messed up and couldn't create even one clone. _

"I want to become Hokage. It is my dream, my goal, my future. I would be the most powerful and revered in our history. I would be acknowledged by everyone for my strength and kindness. I could protect everyone in dire times."

_ It's all because you believed in me Iruka._

"I even have a bridge named after me, that's cool huh?"

_ It is the first step towards my dream. _

"I became teamed up with Sasuke and Sakura. I hate Sasuke and all his skill that comes so easily to him."

_ But he is still a brother to me. Both of us alone in this world, filled with anger, passion, and a dream. _

"Sakura is amazing and beautiful, and one day I'll go out with her."

_ But she's always yelling at me and hitting me. _

Sure, the girls knew of his background, but seeing the loneliness and pain in his eyes and the raw emotion construed in his voice was too much as they almost sensed his thoughts that had gone with his spoken words. Their eyes were tearing up not in sympathy, but in happiness for Naruto. He was strong in so many ways that he didn't even see, but they knew and that was all that mattered right now. They all set their empty bowls down and crushed him in a giant hug while trying to lift the weight of his life off his shoulders ever so slightly to make it just a little more bearable for him.

The hug was a strange feeling, the only person that had ever hugged him was Iruka and now three girls he'd only known for days managed to drag out his memories and still accept him and go as far as caring enough to hug him. They truly were different.

"Thanks Naruto, for everything. We'll see you tomorrow, but we need to go fix up our place some. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to knock on our door." Laura ruffled his hair. _Geeze, he must be 5'7". When did he get so tall? _

Bibi unlocked the door to their apartment as the door groaned and squeaked open. The barren apartment might as well have been a desert with nothing but floors and walls.

"We need some decoration or something in here." Vivian though of ways to make it feel more lived in.

"I have an idea." Laura pulled off her bag and rummaged through it. She plucked something out of it and tacked it to a wall with a nail that she had found still left in the wall. "Perfect."

* * *

They stepped into a hall filled with folding chairs in the front and open space to mingle with people in the back. Kakashi streeled through the crowd of jounins with Laura, Vivian, and Bibi on either side of him.

"Ah, Kakashi, my eternal rival, I am jealous of your harem. Why do you get a fan club of three young girls, and even get permission for them to attend a jounin meeting. It's not fair."

"We're not his harem." Vivian glared at Gai, and then mumbled, "but Laura would like to be."

"Gai, I want to introduce you to Laura, Vivian, and Bibi. Bibi is very skilled in taijutsu and might benefit from some of your training."

"Wait a second." He whipped out a lime green spandex jumpsuit, his quick motions sending his bowl cut hair slightly out of place. "We could be matching!" He held out the jumpsuit in one hand while he gave a thumbs up with the other and had a blinding shine off of his teeth in his nice guy pose.

"No thanks." She stared at the offending outfit in disgust that she tried to hide from Gai.

"It does wonders for your curves." He raised his eyebrows a couple times suggestively.

"And you know, Angelina Jolie wore a silver one for the Tomb Raider 2 movie, so you might look great in this green one." Laura was going to hang this over her for months.

"Die." Bibi said pointedly at Laura for all of her 'help'.

People were whispering about who they were and they were at a jounin meeting, luckily the hokage chose that moment to stand behind the pedestal on top of the stage. "I call this meeting to order, will everyone please take their seats."

He waited as the crowd settled and quieted down before continuing.

"Rumors have reached my ears of a missing-nin organization that is rapidly gaining influence in many of the hidden villages. We are not sure yet of their existence, members, or objectives, but do not take this rumor lightly. I want all of you to keep your ears open on missions and tell me of any mentions of this organization."

"In sand, there was a rogue cabinet member that tried to influence the people to overthrow the government and replace it with a new leader."

Asuma raised a hand. "Should we send in some political ambassadors into sand to see what was behind the revolt?"

"No, I want all of our ninjas to be stationed here for the chuunin exam that is coming up. I am also raising the threat level due to unsubstantiated mission documents mentioning Orochimaru's increased activity level."

Everyone's face grew more sullen at the mention of the Sannin.

"On mention of the exam, I have the list of examiners for this year's chuunin exam. The first test will be given by Ibiki." The mentioned jounin and torture specialist got a sadistic smile on his scared face. "Anko will be in charge of the survival forest portion. Gekkou Hayate will be overseeing the preliminary matches. Genma will be the one in charge of the final matches that occur a month after the preliminary matches are completed."

The three girls looked at each other with knowing smiles, yep, everything was still going according to plan.

"Oh, and as a random comment, Naruto has been defiling the hokage monument again with pink spray paint."

"How do you know it was him." Kakashi, though not arguing the participation of Naruto in this act, was curious as to how he was proven the culprit.

"I ran into him and he had pink paint on his face and hair."

"Any other questions?" He paused to look over the assembly.

"No, then the meeting is adjourned."

"Why don't you guys join me and some other jounins at the jounin bar?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure Kakashi, it's not like we have much else to do." Laura smiled, "it would be cool to meet some of the other jounins that have teams."

They walked through the door and noticed the humm of a crowd of jounin scattered throughout the place.

"Asuma, Kurenai, meet Laura, Bibi, and Vivian, new additions to my team."

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled as the smoke curled before his face. "Nice to meet you."

Kurenai measured up all three of them, her red eyes filled with questions as she stood beside Asuma. _What were three gennins doing at a jounin meeting_? "Hello."

Kakashi had disappeared from their side. Bibi turned around in a circle, feeling slightly uncomfortable in the crowded bar.

"Where did that masked man go?" Laura wondered out loud.

Vivian pulled on Laura's sleeve and pointed to a booth in the far corner where Kakashi was sitting, Genma was across from him.

As they walked over, Vivian reached up on her tiptoes to whisper in Laura's ear. "Isn't it that hot guy from the chuunin exam?" Little did she know that his keen ears picked up on her comments.

"Go on Vivian, talk to him." She gave her friend a gentle shove, trying to get her to talk with Genma before the rest of them sat down.

Vivian took a hesitant step and froze, turning around and motioning with her hands for help as she looked at Bibi and Laura with a face pleading for intervention. Laura shakes her head no and holds Bibi back. She wanted her friend to find the guts on her own to interact with a guy.

Vivian got up the courage to sit down next to Kakashi and smiled at Genma who had a senbon needle precariously poised in his mouth. She opened her mouth to say something to him, but failed miserably. She turned to Kakashi as an escape. "How old are you Kakashi?"

The out of the blue question was picked up by Laura's ears and she sighed as she took a sat next to Vivian , across from Genma, and Bibi sat on the end.

"Why do you want to know?"

Laura sat next to Vivian, across from Genma, and Bibi sat on the end.

"Because you look really old, and you tend to slump which is a tell tale sign of a bad back. You could be suffering from osteoporosis. Do you drink enough milk?"

Kakashi was looking at Vivian, mentally fitting her into a straight jacket.

"I'll have you know that my back is fine, and so is the state of my bones."

Genma let out a small laugh. "Aw, Kakashi's age is a sore point for him."

A waitress walked up and asked if anyone wanted drinks. Genma and Kakashi ordered sake.

"This is Kakashi's first year as a legal drinker."

"So, you've experience those tiny bubbles in the wine quite often and illegally Kakashi. Is that why you're always so distracted? Always off in your own world of drunken stupor?"

Kakashi made something crossed between a grunt and a groan at the line of questioning directed at him, most of which he'd rather not answer.

"I noticed that you always have that senbon needle in your mouth, why?" Laura inquired.

"It's my weapon of choice; I'm deadly accurate with these."

"And considering how easily you talk even with it in your mouth, I take it that you're also good with your mouth?"

"Would you like to find out?

Laura smiled and winked. She was trying to egg Kakashi on and it was working pretty damn well too.

Bibi jumped in, trying to lead the conversation in a more appropriate direction that wouldn't get Genma killed. She didn't think that Kakashi could be sending out stronger vibes of jealousy and hatred. "What is the drinking age here? Where we're from it's 21." Bibi, though not a drinker, was curious none the less.

"Here it's 19." Genma didn't even take the senbon out of his mouth to talk.

"There you go Laura." Bibi was implying that Kakashi was a lot closer to her age than they had all originally concluded.

Laura glared through the slits of her eyes at Bibi who just smiled back innocently in response.

Genma took Bibi's comment in a different way, assuming that they wanted to see if it was legal for them to drink or not. He looked at Laura, "So, does that mean you want a drink? I'll buy you one."

Kakashi eyed Genma, for some reason wanting to rip the senbon out of his mouth and stab him with it.

"Oh, no thanks, though my friend here would like your number," Laura motioned towards Vivian, who was past beet red at this point.

The waitress arrived with the sake. She leaned down to place the container on the table, her eyes met Genma's and she smiled. If she was to concentrate any harder on attempting to seduce the jounin, the sake would have ended up on his lap instead of the table. A voice from across the room called out a name, she blinked rapidly and pivoted, heading towards the impatient customer. Genma lifted his cup, unfazed by the attempts of the woman to catch his eye, and set the napkin aside. Taking out a pen he had stashed in his vest pocket, he wrote his name and number on it. He held it out to Vivian as she stared at him with sparkles of excitement in her eyes. Laura reached out to take it from him, stuffing it into the hands of her paralyzed friend.

"Normally she has full use of her motor skills, but she must be in awe of getting to meet you in person."

"In awe, of me?" He ran a hand through his stringy brown locks peeking out from under his tied hitai-ate. "I didn't know I was popular enough with the ladies to be known all through the outskirts of Konoha?"

"Come on Genma, that waitress was about ready to put a leash on you and take you home with her like a puppy." Kakashi's posture was more relaxed now that he knew Vivian was the one interested in his long-time friend, but Laura's flirtatious manner was a whole different story. _Why did she have to flirt with him if she wasn't interested? Then there was the whole matter of the stranger spying on us during training, but they didn't even bother to attack.__I need more sake. _

"We best get going, it was nice to meet you Genma, and maybe I'll run into you again sometime." Laura smiled, it was getting late and she could see Bibi starting to nod off only to jerk her head back up in attempt to fend off the workings of drowsiness. They had all had a long day, and it was time for them to go to **their** apartment and fall asleep.

As they opened their door and stepped foot into their apartment, they felt a fresh breeze on their face. They had left a window open so that it could circulate the stale air in the apartment. Jingling from the two bells tacked on the wall was carried on the wind flowing through the house and out the open window. Proof of their stealth and success.

* * *

**A/N: **We finally got around to responding and thanking everyone! Look for you name and our comment to your review. Thanks for everything, reading, reviewing, and making our writing so much better from your inspiration. We have almost 1,300 hits on and just started to have hit counters as of June 20 th and we already have over 630 hits in not even a month's time. WoOt!

** Beta Note** : I'm gonna give my beta message now. It's actually an apology for being a forgetful one but hey I figure with all the work the Frozen Fan Girls do on this fic (I once got a call with them squealing about types of martial arts they'd read up on…it was frightening, interesting, but frightening) I owe them a public apology. The broken collarbone excuse only goes so far, and I can't claim to be out of town anymore. So congrats on the good job girls, and keep up your spelling (or improve a little, either works).

…This is the spear-chucking beta signing out…

* * *

**Thanks to the following reviewers from **

shorty  
2005-07-12  
ch 11, anon.

We're trying to get things moving faster, don't worry

M  
2005-06-30  
ch 11, anon.

Don't hurt yourself from all the laughing, you're bound to fall off your chair once in a while, and trust us, it hurts.

MisSs005  
2005-06-30  
ch 11, signed

We're still getting the hang of the action, fluff, and story writing in general, but don't worry, we're trying hard.

kayla  
2005-06-29  
ch 10, anon.

Update complete, and we're working on the next chapter while writing these thanks

MisSs005  
2005-06-21  
ch 10, signed

Serious action always ensues the mention of Orochimaru, Itach, and the rest of those nail polish wearing s-class criminals.

Angel Yuriko  
2005-06-19  
ch 10, signed

Glad you think it's good, thanks

M  
2005-06-06  
ch 10, anon.

Now that it's summer, we're trying to update in a more timely fashion

kayla  
2005-06-04  
ch 10, anon.

If you think that was awesome, just keep reading, we hope to blow everyone's socks off

kayla  
2005-06-01  
ch 9, anon.

We're trying to update ducks as master cracks whip

kayla  
2005-05-28  
ch 9, anon.

This chapter is definitely our longest yet, enjoy

kayla  
2005-05-18  
ch 9, anon.

You're never a pest, you are inspiration!

kayla  
2005-05-06  
ch 9, anon.

Wow, crushes you in bear hug thank you soooo much for reviewing 3 times for one chapter

short freak  
2005-04-19  
ch 9, anon.

Don't you just love our simple reasoning no chakra dead shinobi. You'll see in time what all the flashbacks add up to.

short freak  
2005-04-15  
ch 8, anon.

Team 7 ½ ROCKS!

shortfreak  
2005-04-15  
ch 7, anon.

Randomness rules the universe, we have learned this the hard way.

shortfreak  
2005-04-15  
ch 6, anon.

We all have our quirks about us, cheese is just one of Vivian's.

shortfreak  
2005-04-15  
ch 5, anon.

We weren't really sure if there are cars in Naruto, but we hadn't seen any so we just assumed that there weren't.

shortfreak  
2005-04-15  
ch 4, anon.

Oh yes, we pratically put panteen pro-V on a billboard, they should be paying us for advertising for them jk

shortfreak  
2005-04-15  
ch 3, anon.

Yep, Inner Sakura is one of our favorite funny characters

loveable-M  
2005-04-15  
ch 9, signed

You need a tooth brush and a dentist appointment for some of the fluff we have in mind.

Kayla  
2005-04-10  
ch 8, anon.

I'm glad you like it no matter what flame we got. Thanks for always being supportive.

Rhythmic  
2005-03-20  
ch 8, signed

Tents are fun, and yes, we actually made one with hairclips once, but we used sheets instead of raincoats. giggles at memory

loveable-M  
2005-03-19  
ch 8, signed

hears your chant of update and does a tribal dance to it

a person(mysterious huh?)  
2005-03-18  
ch 8, anon.

Thanks for helping us with that detail, and yes there are pairings, matters of the heart take time my friend.

M  
2005-03-08  
ch 7, anon.

We try, well, not really. Humor and sarcasm comes naturally and sometimes even when we don't want it.

Rika  
2005-02-25  
ch 1, anon.

Glad you see similarities with your life and our story, but have you gotten thrown into an anime series, if so, how did you do it because we want to really get thrown into Naruto too! sighs as we dream

loveable-M  
2005-02-22  
ch 6, signed

bows down to your wishes of more updates

Rhythmic  
2005-02-21  
ch 6, signed

Kya actually tried to convince me once that there was a cheese that causes cancer, and I thought that it was really funny.

Devilz-Fallen  
2005-02-01  
ch 5, signed

Geeze, you reviewers are slave drivers, but we love you all

loveable-M  
2005-01-25  
ch 5, signed

engulfs you in hug You are one of the most dependable reviewers.

Aka Yuki-hime  
2005-01-14  
ch 5, signed

You cannot force brilliance to work faster, but you can push us (gomen, that didn't make any sense)

Cyberwing  
2005-01-13  
ch 5, signed

I can hear your laugher from my computer

Nettie  
2005-01-13  
ch 1, anon.

Slutty? Have you looked on TV, music videos, or even at a high school? How are they slutty? There was no cleavage, and their butts were perfectly covered and Bibi refused to wear those clothes because she is more conservative. Though I have to admit that I was pleased to know that you disliked our story soo much that you felt compelled to write about it. As my English teacher who was a writer for a newspaper once said "It doesn't matter if the comments people give you about your writing is good or bad, it was that you wrote well enough to evoke such a strong feeling in them that they felt compelled to tell you that they either hated it or loved it." And no, they aren't perfect or anywhere close to it, if they were, then they would be named Mary Poppins instead.

Rhythmic  
2005-01-12  
ch 5, signed

Did you like the training so far, and do you think the tests by Kakashi were well thought out?

Rhythmic  
2005-01-10  
ch 4, signed

Or else…..swallows nervously "Please don't hurt us!" quivers under desk in fear

Bi  
2005-01-10  
ch 4, anon.

Rants are fun, and we have them often in real life.

you know who I am  
2004-12-26  
ch 3, anon.

You're probably already mentally scared from looking in the mirror, and yes that was a really cheap shot we took at you, but we're allowed because you're a friend we've known since before we wrote this or even liked Naruto

Bi  
2004-12-23  
ch 3, anon.

hands over tissue so that you can wipe your eyes and blow your nose

Rhythmic  
2004-12-23  
ch 3, signed

We wish boys would just fall in love with our goddess like beauty, wait we don't have that, hmmmm, that must be why there are no guys in love with us.

An1m3Pw4ag3  
2004-12-12  
ch 2, signed

reaches hand out Here, I'll help you so that you don't fall off the cliffy.

An1m3Pw4ag3  
2004-12-12  
ch 1, signed

Wow, we rule? Thanks hugs

curlysue  
2004-12-10  
ch 2, anon.

Everyone in the story is a freak, we're freaks in real life. Freaky and proud of it.

Dattebayo  
2004-12-06  
ch 2, signed

You hold the record for the longest review, but it is sooo appreciated. hugs

firegirlkya  
2004-12-06  
ch 2, signed

Glad you can review

lorenz  
2004-12-06  
ch 2, anon.

Strange situations are always fun to read about.

you know who i am  
2004-12-05  
ch 2, anon.

Sorry you're so scared, but wait, there's more.

Rhythmic  
2004-12-05  
ch 2, signed

Trust us, we wouldn't pull the kiss thing out in only the third chapter. Plus, you pretty accurately predicted what was going to happen, you must be psychic!

tennis-tensai  
2004-12-05  
ch 2, signed

That would have been really funny!

Dattebayo  
2004-12-01  
ch 1, signed

We give you credit for supplying us with Naruto bows down to your cd collection

Lee  
2004-12-01  
ch 1, anon.

No offense taken, we're just glad you read some of it.

Poptate  
2004-11-29  
ch 1, anon.

No one in life is sane, especially not after we get our hands on them…mwahahaha

shorty#2  
2004-11-29  
ch 1, anon.

We love cliffys!

natalia  
2004-11-29  
ch 1, anon.

thanks

Rhythmic  
2004-11-28  
ch 1, signed

Continue we will

Blind Kunoichi  
2004-11-28  
ch 1, signed

Thanks

Dragonmaiden Bi  
2004-11-28  
ch 1, signed

Thanks for the compliment

Lara Roberts  
2004-11-28  
ch 1, signed

We'll keep writing as long as we're thinking and have a computer or paper at our side.

Thanks to all you great **C2** people for archiving our story in your communities.

1. ..Action Packed..

2. Alternate Adventure Archive: Anime

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Stares with wide eyes full of excitement and happiness Thanks to the following people for adding our story to your **favorites list**.

Name

1. An1m3Pw4ag3

2. blackman

3. Dattebayo

4. Dragonmaiden Bi

5. Fariy Puck

6. firegirlkya

7. Lara Roberts

8. loveable-M

9. lunarmist

10. mappie

11. Marikfan1

12. MisSs005

13. Rhythmic

14. sard0nyx

15. Yokukuri

16. Zapperbug

function autofitIframe(id) if (this.document.body window.parent window.parent.document.getElementById window.parent.document.getElementById(id)) if(this.document.body.offsetHeight > 450) window.parent.document.getElementById(id).style.heightthis.document.body.offsetHeight + 30 + 'px'; / else if(parent.document.getElementById parent.document.getElementById(id) this.document.body.scrollHeight) if(this.document.body.scrollHeight > 450) parent.document.getElementById(id).style.heightthis.document.body.scrollHeight + 30 + 'px'; /

**Thanks** and hugs to **Angel Yuriko, MisSs005, MTG-Enflame**, and **Youko Demon** for adding our story to your **story alert** list!

**On thanks to **

**Magerm**: See more was written, don't die

**Aisha18**: thanks for reviewing

**D.L. Angelgirl**: Sakura isn't out favorite either, but she is needed in the world of Naruto, it just wouldn't be the same without her. Have you read the most recent manga scanlations yet?

**Kinokorox:** mwahahahaha, suspense is great like that isn't it?

**Hiroto**: Glad you love it

**Pandora Black:** I'm glad you understand that development is crucial and as you can see, we're trying to add more action in every chapter

**Pandora Black:** see, two sets of thanks for your two reviews


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